


and so the moon fell for the sun

by iwakzm



Series: and so the moon fell for the sun (p.1,2) [1]
Category: Harry Potter RPF, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Chatlogs, Chatting & Messaging, Drista Supremacy, Explicit Language, Family Dynamics, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Kind of a Happy Ending, Lots of Angst, M/M, Mentions of Blood, Mutual Pining, Swearing, Texting, mcc wrote the fic for me, minor dream and wilbur at the beginning, protective friend sapnap, schlatt is an asshole, theres some violence but not a lot, very much inspired by skins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 08:13:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 25
Words: 54,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27467776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwakzm/pseuds/iwakzm
Summary: clay 4:27would u still love me if i was a death eatergeorge 4:28are u stupid? noclay 4:28whatttt but i'd still be me thoor a hogwarts texting au that i decided to write while i gather more inspiration to finish my other fanfic.OR dream and george fall in love with each other but its not all sunshine and rainbows.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/Wilbur Soot, Karl Jacobs/Sapnap
Series: and so the moon fell for the sun (p.1,2) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2104284
Comments: 206
Kudos: 832
Collections: UHHHH THIS SHIT IS WELL WRITTEN B)





	1. character profiles

**Author's Note:**

> good morning/afternoon/evening, how are you all? :]  
> just some basic information to start off with.
> 
> disclaimer - i don't ship anyone here in real life, just their online personas. they're adorable dorks that radiate homiesexual energy. i respect them completely.

**clay/dream**

_house -_ slytherin 

_year -_ 6th year (16-17)

 _other information -_ quidditch seeker. half-blood. 

**george**

_house -_ ravenclaw 

_year -_ 6th year (16-17)

 _other information -_ pure-blood. 

**nick/sapnap**

_house -_ gryffindor 

_year -_ 6th year (16-17)

 _other information -_ quidditch beater. pure-blood. 

**karl**

_house -_ hufflepuff

 _year -_ 6th year (16-17) 

_other information -_ pure-blood. 

**wilbur**

_house -_ slytherin

 _year -_ 7th year (17-18)

 _other information -_ quidditch captain/keeper. pure-blood. 

**tommy**

_house -_ gryffindor 

_year -_ 4th year (14-15)

 _other information -_ quidditch keeper. half-blood. 

**toby/tubbo**

_house -_ hufflepuff 

_year -_ 4th year (14-15)

 _other information -_ quidditch chaser. muggle born. 

**niki**

_house -_ hufflepuff 

_year -_ 7th year (17-18)

 _other information -_ house prefect. quidditch chaser. muggle born. 

**dave/technoblade**

_house -_ ravenclaw

 _year -_ 7th year (17-18) 

_other information -_ house prefect. quidditch seeker. pure-blood. 

**jschlatt**

_house -_ slytherin 

_year -_ 7th year (17-18) 

_other information -_ house prefect. quidditch beater. pure-blood. 

**alex/quackity**

_house -_ hufflepuff 

_year -_ 6th year (16-17) 

_other information -_ quidditch chaser. half-blood. 

**eret**

_house -_ ravenclaw 

_year -_ 6th year (16-17) 

_other information -_ quidditch chaser. muggle born. 

**bbh**

_house -_ hufflepuff 

_year -_ 7th year (17-18) 

_other information -_ house prefect. quidditch seeker. half-blood. 

**skeppy**

_house -_ ravenclaw 

_year -_ 7th year (17-18) 

_other information -_ quidditch chaser. muggle born. 

**drista**

_house -_ slytherin 

_year -_ 3rd year (13-14) 

_other information -_ half-blood. quidditch beater. 

**phil**

_house -_ gryffindor 

_year -_ 7th year (17-18) 

_other information -_ house prefect. quidditch chaser. pure-blood. 


	2. incoming message

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just idiots messaging each other :]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first official chapter,,  
> pog.

**incoming message from clay**

**clay 4:19**

u up? 

bro i know ur online

george 

dont act like ur sleeping 

**george 4:24**

shut up 

**clay 4:25**

y didnt u respond to me 

**george 4:26**

i was ignoring you 

**clay 4:26**

wtf 

**george 4:26**

what do u want 

**clay 4:27**

would u still love me if i was a death eater 

**george 4:28**

are u stupid? no 

**clay 4:28**

whatttt but i'd still be me tho 

**george 4:28**

what death eaters do you know that we're friends with 

**clay 4:28**

bro like so many 

plenty 

**george 4:29**

no 

no. 

**clay 4:29**

but i'd be a good death eater tho 

**george 4:30**

what 

**clay 4:30**

i'd be a good death eater. 

**george 4:31**

no u wouldnt stand a chance 

**clay 4:31**

i would 

**george 4:32**

not even a second 

**clay 4:32**

i would. 

**george 4:33**

in your dreams maybe 

is that all u wanted to ask me 

**clay 4:34**

no 

i have something important to ask you too 

**george 4:34**

oh ok 

**clay 4:35**

would u still love me if i was a worm 

??

?

????  
?????????

??

?

george.

**you have been blocked by the recipient.**

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**clay has added you, wilbur, sapnap and others to 'george fucking unblock me'**

**clay 4:45**

psst 

george

psssssttttt 

**sapnap 4:55**

what the fuck go to sleep 

**karl >:) 4:56**

why are u guys up????? 

**clay 4:57**

cant sleep lol 

**karl >:) 4:57 **

did george block u again :c 

**clay 4:58**

yh hes so mean 

**sapnap 4:59**

damn george is so rude 

**clay 5:00**

ikr 

can i ask u guys a question 

**karl >:) 5:00 **

ofc!! 

**sapnap 5:01**

shoot 

**clay 5:01**

would you guys still love me if i was a worm 

**sapnap has left the group chat.**

**clay 5:02**

wtf :'(

**karl >:) 5:02 **

i'd still love u dream 

**clay 5:03**

thx 

wanna meet up b4 hogwarts 

**karl >:) 5:04 **

okay!!!

cu later 

**wilbur 5:04**

shut the fuck up. 

**clay 5:05**

hi will 

**wilbur 5:06**

go to bed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> reminder to drink some water!!


	3. chocolate frogs and train rides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just bros being bros on the ride to hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiya, how are you guys today? :)

**incoming message from clay**

**clay 11:00**

i see u :) 

**george 11:01**

creep. 

george smiled smugly to himself after sending a message back, he knows it wouldn't be long until his friends decide to bombard his compartment so george moves his stuff out of the way to make enough room next to him. it'd been too long since he'd seen any of them or spoken to any of them in person and, although he would hate to admit it, he felt a bit giddy inside. george was glad he wouldn't have to stay home and put up with his families ridiculous rules they follow to 'uphold' themselves and that he could just goof around with his mates again. 6th year was gonna be their best year at hogwarts yet.

and george waits, he waits until he finally hears the familiar laughs and yells he'd been longing to hear since they had left hogwarts as 5th years. the compartment door slams open and in comes nick and clay pushing and shoving each other to get in, with karl and wilbur orderly following after. wilbur normally always hung out with them for a while before leaving to head off to his other friends, he only really stays because of dream, which is understandable. karl's been hanging out with the trio since their 4th year, who knew that accidentally messing up a potion and nearly killing sapnap in the process would lead to such a wonderful bond between the two? 

"whats up, georgie?" nick is the first to greet him, ruffling his hair before plopping down on the seat across to him. dream seats himself between him and wilbur, karl taking his usual place beside sapnap. "you've grown." he says, "still short though." dream adds, erupting a couple laughs from everyone else - apart from george, obviously. he was going to argue again that his height was perfectly fine but wilbur spoke first.

"any plans for this year, guys?" he asked, karl smirked, "im gonna totally master alchemy." and george was gonna retort and make a joke about how karl could probably nearly kill someone in that class too but he got caught off guard a bit when he noticed clay reaching out for wilburs hand and intertwining their fingers together. his stomach churned. "i think you'll do alright." wilbur replied, "really?" karl excitedly turned to sapnap and punched him lightly on the arm, "a quidditch captain just said im gonna be awesome at alchemy, nick! fuck you!" he says, causing sapnap to chuckle, "sure, karl. just make sure to actually listen and follow everything the professors saying." he responds, receiving an eager nod. 

they continue to joke around for a while, poking fun at each other and making cheeky remarks mixed in with occasional pda from clay and wilbur - it was mainly just careless whispers of sweet nothings and small pecks on the lips - but that had ended when wilbur decided it was his time to leave and go see the others. it was a shame, really. that was also when dream had spoiled everyone by buying a ton of sweets from the food trolley. 

karl quickly grabbed at one of the chocolate frogs, tearing it open and digging at the bottom to see what card he got. nick had to dodge out of the way to steer clear of the flying frog that jumped out seconds later, which was followed by a small whine. "i have like 15 dumbledores already! this is bullshit! im never gonna get anyone new." he pouted, tossing the card to the side. sapnap laughed, picking it up, "if you aren't gonna keep it, i guess i will." he said, and karl just looked at him and shrugged, "cool, whatever. i just want helga hufflepuff." 

dream smiles, reaching to grab a chocolate frog box as well, george looks over at him, "please dont tell me you obsessively collect them like karl does." he says, and dream chuckles and shakes his head, "just wanna see what the hype is about." karl audibly gasped, "no way, dream! you've been going to hogwarts for ages and still haven't opened a chocolate frog? you're missing out my friend." clay continues to carefully open it, jumping a bit when the frog hopped out and leaped on the window, "is that like, edible?" he whispers to karl, like he was probably scared to offend the frog or something, but karl couldn't care less. "just look at the card at the bottom!" he urges on, and dream complies. it didn't take long for a wide grin to spread across his face as he showcased the card to everyone like it was some kind of trophy. sapnap crosses his arms and leans back, "guess it's just in your blood, dude." 

karl is fucking bewildered. 

"no way you got salazar slytherin!" 

"yes way." dream replies, handing the card over to george, "you can have it, though." he smiles, and george gratefully accepts it. 

the four proceed to mess about. dream was telling everyone a story about something that was probably interesting, he was good at making shit sound cool, but george was too distracted watching karl stuff his face with all their sweets and trying to hold in a stifle of laughter to even pay attention properly. nick seemed preoccupied with karl too, but it was more in the 'he couldn't take his eyes off him' sense. george noticed this a while back - it was cute, really, and a bit funny too - george doesn't know how sapnap manages to stare in awe at karl as he continues to scoff up food but he's probably stared at clay in the same way without even noticing before. it was nice to know they were in the same boat. 

but eventually, and just as nick was about to chat karl up, he was pulled away by another fellow hufflepuff. it was something about how 'karl should be hanging out with his own kind.' which wow, bit rude. quackity, or at least george thinks thats his name because karl ended up whining it all the way out their compartment, was surprisingly the first mean hufflepuff he'd ever met, so good for him. he's sure he's actually really cool but if everyone here wanted to hang out with their houses, george doesn't think they'd keep their sanity for very long, especially dream, dreams sanity is strung by a single thread and so help the person that decides to snap it. 

nick shuffles in his seat, "do you think they'd bring him back?" 

"alex is like, chill. they probably just wanted to see karl for a bit and all." clay replies, and george's head quickly snaps towards him. how dream manages to know everyones names george will never understand. "cool. not like i cared anyway. good riddance, he was super annoying." nick joked, but nobody laughed. nobody even moved anything apart from their eyes, which landed on karl who just clicked open the door to enter again. 

"uh," karl didn't know he was kidding, "sorry, niki let me come back after i got her to tell off quackity,," karl said, maintaining eye contact with nick to shoot him daggers before sitting down next to dream. "don't listen to sapnap. he was just being a bitch boy." george tells him, and nick's whole body basically deflates in embarrassment. his hands move to cover his face as he says, "it was a bad timed joke." karl found that funny. he chooses to forgive him, but that he doesn't say since he wants to see sapnap suffer for a bit. 

dream wants to change the topic, as much as he likes watching sapnap mess up his chances with karl, he felt like they needed to talk about something else. 

"what did alex want?" he asks, and karl just shrugs, "im just a super cool person so everyone wants me around." he answers, turning to look over to sapnap after, "apart from a couple few." karl adds. nick's eyes widen again as he immediately sinks after, sobbing out a couple sorries as everyone burst out in laughter. sapnap knows karl will never let this moment down. karl thinks sapnap's cute. 

george was glad nick didn't fuck up his friendship with karl with one dumb joke but now they were too busy teasing each other and blatantly flirting for him to join in and talk with them, but it was fine since clay was next to him. george was closer to clay than anyone here. though, it doesn't seem like it anymore, ever since him and wilbur started dating, he's just been kicked to the curb and left only to observe their relationship. he's happy that clay's happy, and that thought keeps him going but it was annoying in times like these when george wants to hold a conversation and, although wilbur just left like 10 minutes ago, dream's already busy smiling down at his phone and texting away. it's fine. might as well make the most of it. 

he tilts his head to take a sneak peak at what he's doing, and clay catches him in the act, "spying, are you?" he says, and george was about to move away and apologise but dream smiled and ended up shuffling closer to him. "tommy stole wilbur's phone and keeps sending pictures of him holding up his middle finger." clay explains, scrolling through a ton of them, george giggles, "my favourite is the one with techno in the background where he looks really disappointed." and dream wasn't lying, there tommy was doing his thing while technoblade could be seen with his head in his hands beside him. "he's a funny kid." george says, and dream agrees, "he'd probably hit you if you called him a kid though." george takes note of that. 

"wanna listen to music?" clay then asks, and george nods, watching as he pressed the home button to go and find spotify. his background was a picture of his sister holding his cat. george wasn't surprised. he's already noticed that his lock screen background was a picture of him and sapnap in their quidditch uniforms as 3rd years - that's when they both made the teams - and it was really sweet. clay was really sweet. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ur a sexy bitch, dont forget to drink some water and take care of yourself <3


	4. annoying people and their shit conversations.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dream wants to talk to his friends instead of being stuck with schlatt for an hour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just finished school and felt like updating so why not

**incoming message from clay**

**clay 18:35**

this is so lame. 

sneak out with me? :) 

**george 18:40**

no <3 

unlike you, i like my peers. 

**clay 18:41**

you try having to talk to people like schlatt for minutes on end. 

**george 18:43**

boohoo. 

now get off your phone, it's rude. he's your house prefect, show some respect :p 

**clay 18:43**

i hate you, you know that right? 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

clay mutters a string of curse words under his breath as he tucks his phone away, turning back to focus on the people beside him. he's not sure why but every time his gaze even lands on schlatt, he just feels a sudden pang of hatred course through his body. the thing is, the guys actually alright when he wants to be. schlatt was a cool prefect and let things slide most of the time, it's not like he was stuck up or anything. just a dickhead. dream remembers how wilbur worked so hard to try and be chosen as a prefect in his 5th year only to have that title be taken away from him, and he remembers how pissed tommy got at schlatt for swooping in and taking the spot. he remembers how pissed he got too, but he chose not to express that. he just had to accept it. 

drista nudges clay's shoulder, poking a fork at his sausages, "are you gonna eat that?" she asks and dream was about to say yes but he had a weak spot for his sister and ended up shaking his head 'no.' she smiled as she took it and placed it on her plate. "you okay, by the way?" drista says, cutting a piece off and eating it. clay shrugs. "just tired." 

his sister hates that response. all of his siblings used that excuse, and it was a shit one. 

"don't you wanna run off and hang out with your friends?" dream turns to face her, drista did have a talent for reading his thoughts. "no." he won't give her the satisfaction though. she tilts her head, "not even the cute one?" she proceeds to ask, "are you talking about george?" 

drista grins. "i dont know, was i?" she replies innocently, taking another chunk of sausage before adding, "so you think he's cute." 

ah. 

"thats not what i meant." 

"so he isn't cute?" 

"also, not what i meant." 

she rolls her eyes, pointing her fork towards his face, "so what did you mean then?" and instead of answering, dream bends down and eats the sausage from her. 

"hey!" she yells, but clay decides to ignore her and turns the other way to talk to, well, schlatt. he didn't feel like talking to drista about his unrequited childhood crush towards his best friend, but she still doesn't stop mentioning it even after he moved on and went out with wilbur near the end of his 4th year. it was like she was determined to get them together, and drista was. if you asked her, she'd probably say something among the lines of wanting her brother to be happy, and he's always happiest around george, and maybe something about true love and dumb shit like that. dream doesn't believe in it. drista differs. 

clay only realised that it was probably better to talk to his sister after having to sit through another one of schlatt's long, inspirational speeches. he doesn't understand how everyone else likes them. schlatt was pompous, and that comes across every time he talks. wilbur notices the look of boredom and misery on his face from the other end of the table and shoots him a look of 'i wanna deck him too, babe.' and dream finds comfort in that. it's the small things he appreciates about wilbur. 

"i don't wanna be here." clay mouths to him, he smiles, "shame." wilbur mouths back. 

dream stifles his laughter, only noticing that schlatt had asked him something when all eyes were on him. he blinked. "what?" he says, turning to schlatt, "i asked how your friends were." clay wants to punch the look of smugness off his face. "why?" he spits back, schlatt shrugs, "just wondering. still hanging around with that pathetic little hufflepuff that follows you around? how quaint." clay really wants to punch him now. "yes." he replies, gritting his teeth. schlatt grins and rests his head in his hand, "you really should stick with us, you know? we're family, after all. even if you're a mere half-blood, there's no shame in that." clay would rather walk through hell than be considered as schlatt's 'family.' "you're our star seeker, clay. stop hanging around with useless people. they don't benefit you." 

dream clenches his jaw. "and you do?" he responds, not expecting that to erupt laughter from schlatt, "listen, clay." dream flicks his gaze around the table, hoping for someone to pull him out of here but they were all to busy engaging in their own conversations. his shoulders tense when schlatt leans down to whisper in his ear, "you don't wanna make an enemy out of your own people, right?" he could hear the hint of threat lingering in his tone. "why is it any different for when you stick with quackity?" clay decides to ask, and he could tell schlatt didn't like that question just by his expression alone. "he's not my friend, clay. think of him as my errand boy."

dream doesn't understand how someone could be so shit. 

"oh." and he's still talking. how much bullshit does schlatt have left to spew? "george seems like he'd bend at command too, actually." 

clay tenses up. 

"mind introducing us?" 

he's going to punch him. he will. he's going to fucking punch schlatt across his fucking face and wipe that fucking smirk off. he's going to do it. clay could feel his fists clenching in anticipation and he was going to. 

he was going to until his phone pinged. 

**incoming message from sapnap.**

**sapnap 18:57**

just 3 more minutes dude 

dont kill anyone 

**clay 18:57**

not planning to 

**sapnap 18:57**

that look u were giving schlatt said otherwise

**clay 18:58**

dont you have other things to worry about 

like your house members for once 

**sapnap 18:58**

tf chill dont take out ur frustration on me 

i wouldnt even be messaging you rn if ur sister didnt signal to me 

**clay 18:59**

whatever 

im used to schlatts bullshit, im not gonna do anything. 

**sapnap 18:59**

whatever u say 

wanna meet up with me and the others when everyone else is sleeping? 

**clay 18:59**

k 

im bringing wilbur. 

**sapnap 19:00**

fine by me. 

gtg cya 

**clay 19:00**

talk soon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how are you all? remember to drink some water if you haven't.


	5. dumb late night texts and the unexpected few.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sapnap and karl talk. 
> 
> george gets a message from an unknown number.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why do teachers think swearing is so bad, man. im not harming anyone like chill tf let me be a dumb teenager and mess about

**incoming message from karl >:) **

**karl >:) 00:23**

boo 

**sapnap 00:24**

hi cutie 

fuck 

karl* 

**karl >:) 00:24**

:( 

thats disappointing. 

**sapnap 00:25**

what is? 

**karl >:) 00:25**

i thought u actually called me cutie 

**sapnap 00:26**

pfft gross 

autocorrect is just dumb 

**karl >:) 00:26**

ugh at least something thinks im cute 

**sapnap 00:27**

i never said you weren't 

**karl >:) 00:27 **

oh? 

**sapnap 00:28**

you're alright

**karl >:) 00:28 **

oh. 

**sapnap 00:28**

are you still up for later tonight? 

**karl >:) 00:29 **

whats tonight??? 

**sapnap 00:29**

we were planning to meet in one of the supply closets downstairs

**karl >:) 00:29 **

right lol i forgot for a second 

are dream and george coming? 

**sapnap 00:30**

dreams bringing wilbur along as well, i still need to ask george. 

**karl >:) 00:31 **

hm. 

**sapnap 00:31**

what? 

**karl >:) 00:32 **

nothing. 

just something that popped into my mind. 

**sapnap 00:33**

which is? 

**karl >:) 00:33**

mm,,

i don't think george likes wilbur very much. 

he's always eyeing him up yk 

**sapnap 00:34**

i doubt that he dislikes him. 

but i see where you're coming from. 

**karl >:) 00:35 **

right?? its not like he's blatantly mean to wilbur but i just get the sense that they kind of fucking hate each other. 

its always when dreams around which is very sus 

**sapnap 00:37**

actually

now that you mention it

it is very sus. 

**karl >:) 00:38 **

mhm! mhm! 

do you think that 

george is jealous or something

lol 

**sapnap 00:39**

theres a possibility. 

**karl >:) 00:39 **

im not meaning it in a romantic way though, even if it is, but its like wilbur and dream got closer while george and him got more distant 

so 

maybe he just wants that back ig 

**sapnap 00:40**

and wilbur might feel insecure around george and dream because of how close they are/were and he doesn't wanna lose dream to that. 

is that where you're getting at? 

**karl >:) 00:41 **

yes nick!! 

you totally get me :) 

we're like a detective duo and ur the watson to my holmes. 

**sapnap 00:43**

sure, karl. 

but do you think its smart to make assumptions about our friends when we're alone? 

**karl >:) 00:43 **

its harmless

i think. 

we can talk about something else now though if you want, you just asked about what i was thinking and i told you.

so,,

**sapnap 00:45**

alright. we can talk about whatever. 

i dont mind with you. 

**karl >:) 00:45 **

you dont mind with me?? 

**sapnap 00:46**

i dont mind talking about anything with you. 

is what i mean. 

**karl >:) 00:47 **

oh 

hey thats kinda sweet, sapnap. 

**sapnap 00:47**

shut up

**karl >:) 00:47 **

:) 

**sapnap 00:48**

shut up. 

**karl >:) 00:48 **

ur so meannnnn 

but brb 

wait here 

pls 

<3 

**sapnap 00:49**

yeah, okay. 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**incoming message from 'sexy hufflepuffs'**

**karl >:) 00:50 **

GUYS IM HITTING IT OFF WITH NICK 

GUYS

GUYS 

GUYS PLS 

GUYS. 

**niki <3 00:54 **

ooo 

how exciting!! 

whats happening 

**druggity :D 00:58**

i bet its nothing much 

karls been squirming in his bed so much tho

like actually stop 

**tubbox :P 01:12**

i agree with quackity 

i like the name change btw ^^ 

**druggity :D 01:13**

thanks 

i know its cool, you guys dont have to tell me 

**huffleboyhalo :3 01:14**

its very inappropriate 

**karl >:) 01:16 **

ughhhh 

lets discuss quackity's weird usernames later 

im here to talk about me and sapnap 

**niki <3 01:17 **

i wanna hear about karl and nick as well 

**druggity :D 01:18**

do we really need to hear about karl being head over heels for his best friend again 

its so late guys come on 

**tubbox :P 01:19**

if its 'so late' then why are you up 

also bad shouldnt u be scolding us for staying up 

as our prefect??? 

and niki too wtf 

**huffleboyhalo :3 01:21**

language. 

and i would, but im up too so it wouldn't be fair. 

karl also wants to share something with us so i will let him. 

**niki <3 01:22 **

you guys get to hang out with each other a lot 

i just wanna be included when i can 

**karl >:) 01:23 **

ur always included with us, niki c: 

it just sucks that we have different dorms 

**niki <3 01:24 **

yhh!! :( 

i wanna stay up with you guys and chat about things too 

not just on my phone 

**tubbox :P 01:25**

i mean we have to be careful trying not to wake up everyone else here so 

texting seems like the best option lol 

**karl >:) 01:26 **

yeah okay whatever anyways so i think nick called me cute 

like kind of 

and then he said he could talk about anything with me 

**niki <3 01:27 **

thats so sweet 

what happened after???? 

**druggity :D 01:28**

damnnnnn karl is pulling 2nite 

get em dude 

**huffleboyhalo :3 01:29**

did you guys talk more? 

**tubbox :P 01:29**

send him memes 

memes are the key to a mans heart 

**niki <3 01:30 **

yes ^ 

preferably wholesome ones 

**huffleboyhalo :3 01:30**

wholesome memes supremacy

**druggity :D 01:31**

you know what another key to a mans heart is 

**karl >:) 01:31 **

quackity pls dont tell me what i think ur about to tell me 

**druggity :D 01:32**

drugs. 

lots of them. 

all kinds. 

**huffleboyhalo :3 01:33**

and now i think its time for you guys to get some sleep. 

**karl >:) 01:33 **

uhh

actually i was going to meet him soon 

**niki <3 01:34 **

um

as long as you're back within an hour and bad can confirm that you are, we'll let this slide. 

right? 

**huffleboyhalo :3 01:35**

yep 

and tell us what happens too ;) 

**druggity :D 01:35**

ooooooo 

spare no detail ;)) 

**karl >:) 01:36 **

we arent going alone. 

**tubbox :P 01:37**

lame 

**druggity :D 01:37**

super lame.

**karl >:) 01:38 **

whateverrr 

cya guys c: 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**incoming message from unknown**

**unknown 01:45**

hello, george. 

**george 01:46**

bit creepy but alright. 

whats up stranger 

**unknown 01:47**

its schlatt. 

and george, never use 'whats up' in my presence again. 

**george 01:48**

okay well, why are you messaging me late at night and why cant i use whats up lol 

**schlatt 01:50**

i wanted to talk to you, and dreams gone off on a late night adventure with his cute, little boyfriend so i thought the time was right. 

also, a person who uses 'whats up' is a person not worth talking to. 

**george 01:53**

cool. noted. 

why did you want to talk to me? isn't it like a crime for you to talk to someone other than a slytherin? since you're so prideful and all. 

**schlatt 01:54**

george, you're so funny. 

don't get me wrong, i enjoy talking to your kind. 

**george 01:55**

thats really believable when you refer to us like that. 

actually what does 'your kind' even imply 

**schlatt 01:58**

you know, less fortunate people. the weak, mainly. the pathetic type. i could go on but i won't. 

i have a proposition. 

**george 01:59**

sounds interesting but no thanks. 

dont really wanna get involved with the likes of you :] 

**schlatt 02:00**

how boring of you. 

but im a nice guy, george. genuinely. i appreciate fellow pure-bloods, such as yourself. you know? 

**george 02:03**

right. and you don't appreciate anyone else? 

**schlatt 02:05**

don't say it like that. people like your friend clay are just of less significance to me. though he is talented, i'll give him that. 

i find fun in talking to him. 

**george 02:07**

cool but i couldnt care less

bye. 

**schlatt 02:11**

oh, but how is clay doing? 

still lusting over him, georgie? 

**george 02:12**

what 

**schlatt 02:13**

such a shame, really. 

it's for the best, though. a ravenclaw and a slytherin don't fit together. wilbur is better suited, no? 

you should work on hiding how intensely you focus on him sometimes. it's noticeable, to say the least. 

**george 02:17**

how is this any of your business? 

**schlatt 02:17**

im just saying that you dont need him, really. 

i mean, what good is he to you? you can make better friends, like myself for example. i could give you more. maybe close to everything, george. 

i'm quite influential in the power department. we should talk more often, see each other more too. 

yes. you don't need people like nick, is it? and clay and that hufflepuff. 

george, i think you'll fit in just fine with me and quackity. we're a nice pair, and you'll be our missing piece. 

how does that sound? 

**george 02:18**

like shit. 

**schlatt 02:20**

so honest, george. always so honest. 

never with your feelings though, hm? if you want clay to notice you more, maybe try harder. 

i could help with that. whatever you need, as long as you'll keep me happy and stay by my side. 

**george 02:21**

what if i say no? 

**schlatt 02:22**

why would you want to? 

don't you see that clay is already beginning to toss you aside for wilbur? he doesn't care about you. none of them do. 

they all have someone, and that leaves you. 

unless you want that to change. 

**george 02:23**

change how? 

**schlatt 02:24**

you can have anything if you want it enough. 

so, how about it? 

**george 02:25**

fine, but let's see how things go first. 

**schlatt 02:26**

good boy. 

that was a smart decision, georgie. 

**george 02:27**

i hope so. 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**incoming message from george**

**george 02:28**

im not coming. have fun. 

**sapnap 02:30**

tf? okay ig

**george 02:31**

im tired, sorry. 

**sapnap 02:32**

nah its fine. get some rest. maybe next time though? 

**george 02:32**

sure. maybe. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo anyways remember to drink some water :]


	6. schlatt's a dickhead.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> clay wonders where george went,
> 
> only to find him laughing with schlatt a few minutes later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i woke up at 3am and felt like writing so your girls back at it again

**incoming message from clay**

**clay 8:34**

wanna hang out after classes are over? :) 

**george 8:41**

i dont feel like it today 

**clay 8:43**

oh, alright. 

are you okay btw, you didnt come down last night so 

**george 8:44**

yeah. im fine, clay. 

why does it matter? 

**clay 8:45**

i missed u? 

if thats the right way to put it lol 

but i wanted to hang out with you and was pretty bummed you werent there 

**george 8:47**

its not that big of a deal, though, right?

since you didnt need me there anyways. 

**clay 8:48**

why are you acting sus george 

is there something bothering you? talk to me 

**george 8:50**

i told you i was fine.

hey, dont you have a boyfriend to worry about? 

**clay 8:51**

what 

**george 8:58**

anyways, have fun in potions. 

and dont forget your wand again

**clay 8:59**

oh shit thanks for reminding me 

wait 

i didnt say i had potions

**george 9:00**

i have potions, clay. we're in the same class. 

**clay 9:00**

oh right well cya 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

classes ended quite quickly, dream wasn't really paying attention much to anything his professors were saying to be honest. don't get him wrong, he liked potions and defence against the dark arts, but his mind was somewhere else. he wondered if george was actually okay, he's been acting weird lately. it was strange that george didn't choose to sit next to him or nick either, maybe it wasn't that serious though. maybe he just wanted to sit next to quackity during both lessons, for some apparent reason. 

dream was curious to where george was, since he didn't wanna hang out with him and the others, he must be hanging out with someone else, right? or he might be in the library reading again, george liked doing that in his spare time too. it was probably the latter. clay didn't need to worry that much about his friends whereabouts anyways, it's not like he was his dad or that it was any of his business, so it was fine. 

it _was_ fine, until he caught sight of him between schlatt and quackity, and they were laughing? or schlatt poisoned him and he was choking to death which seemed like the most reasonable answer because why would george be having fun around them? right? well, unless he actually was. 

clay was reminded of his conversation with schlatt from yesterday just then, the question he asked right before dream was ready to deck him and he wondered if maybe he was doing just that - turning george into one of his minions. 

dickhead. 

dream sucked in a breath. their eyes had met. and, even if it was just for a second, it already felt like everything between them had changed or was changing. he didn't like that feeling. george didn't either, he would suspect. he watches him blink once, and then twice, and then george is the first to pull away. 

yet clay's still watching. he watches as schlatt catches onto his gaze and smirks at him, and he keeps that smirk while wrapping an arm around george's waist. he's still smirking when he pulls him closer and whispers in his ear, and they both laugh. dream watches until the two stray their attention away from him and back onto quackity, who was telling a really long joke by the looks of it. 

it had been a night. 

it had been a single night and clay had already lost his best friend to the likes of schlatt, but he had to hand it to him, dream's never met anyone that was shitty enough to tear apart a friendship so quickly, and so fucking easily. 

he decides to turn around when hearing a pair of shoes running towards him, and of course it was nick getting ready to jump on him - which he did - while ruffling his hair after. karl shortly appeared behind him. 

"you look so sexy in the mornings, dream." sapnap jokes, bringing his arm around clay's shoulder, "do you guys think im sexy in the mornings?" 

karl laughs and shakes his head, "you have the worst bedhead." 

nick gasped, "hey! just wait until you see george's." he replies and god, how dream wished sapnap didn't mention him right now. 

clay grabs sapnap's arm from around him and slides it off, his eyes wandered around until he caught sight of wilbur, "im gonna talk to will." he says, and sapnap groans. 

"imagine having a boyfriend, sooo lame." nick comments, turning to karl as clay ignores him and walks off, "you'll never get a boyfriend and abandon me, right?" he asks him. 

karl blinks. 

"karl, please tell me you don't have a secret boyfriend," sapnap frowned, "i don't, and," he smiles, "i won't abandon you if i ever get one." 

nick raises his arms in victory, "thats my boy!" 

the sudden shout catches george's attention. clay isn't with them anymore, he notices. 

sapnaps voice trails off as him and karl begin to walk away together as well. "let's go and spy on dream and wilbur, i'm so bored." 

oh, right. george isn't even surprised when his eyes continue to follow them and he sees him and will holding hands. it was cute, and now he's hating himself for feeling the way he does towards clay. dream wants to be happy with wilbur. george wants to rip wilbur's arm off and beat him with it. 

that's when he realises that schlatt's arm is still snaked around his waist, which he doesn't like. he's not sure why they're in this position either but george figures he has to put up with things like this from now on. he misses his friends. george doesn't know why he's so easy to break, but they're better off without him. dream's better off without him. 

"we have a quidditch game coming up against gryffindor, you should come watch." schlatt tells him and quackity, and he squeezes his hand against george's hip. 

he looks up at him, and schlatt smiles softly, but it's still filled with as much malicious intent as his others, "you'll cheer for me, right?" 

george nods. 

quackity proceeds to make a comment on crushing gryffindor, and schlatt replies with a snarky comment about wanting to knock a couple people off their brooms. george hopes sapnap isnt among those people. 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**incoming message from clay**

**clay 12:54**

what happened? 

**george 12:54**

nothing. schlatt's lovely. 

**clay 12:55**

you say that like he's your boyfriend, george. 

is he? 

**george 12:55**

what? no. 

theres nothing wrong with me hanging out with him 

**clay 12:56**

you know he's a terrible person, right? 

**george 12:56**

he isn't terrible. 

**clay 12:56**

are you mentally deficient? 

i've told you countless times about how shit he is. 

**george 12:57**

he isn't shit to me. 

**clay 12:58**

oh no way, that's so cool. he must really like you!! 

shut the fuck up george. 

**george 12:59**

why are you so pissed? 

**clay 12:59**

man idk 

its not like the guy used a curse on my sister during her 2nd year or anything. 

god, someone should really be expelled for doing something like that but then again, there's always the people who use money to get away with things. 

**george 13:01**

shit 

im sorry, i forgot about that 

**clay 13:01**

its perfectly understandable, george. 

you should really get back to class. 

**george 13:02**

im so sorry clay 

**you have been blocked by the recipient.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ur so sexy when you drink some water.


	7. a newly formed trio.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> schlatt, quackity and george try to get along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> good morning/evening/night, how are you?  
> to be completely honest, i have no clue where im taking this but im gonna try my best to make it readable.

**incoming message from schlatt**

**schlatt has added george to the group chat.**

**schlatt 16:04**

thats better 

**quackity 16:04**

yo georgie 

**george 16:05**

hi. 

**schlatt 16:05**

hello george, how are you?

**george 16:05**

im okay, thanks.

**schlatt 16:06**

have you spoken to clay at all, by any chance? 

i was only just wondering since i wasn't so sure if he'd be happy that you've made new, better friends. 

**george 16:07**

this isn't really classified as friendship, schlatt. 

**schlatt 16:08**

oh?

then what is it? 

**george 16:08**

im not sure. i just dont think friends have a hierarchy system. 

**quackity 16:09**

bro u need to chill out 

its very cool to hang out with someone like schlatt, an opportunity like that doesnt appear often. 

**schlatt 16:11**

yes.

and besides, george, you had a choice to reject my offer. you went against the people you care about, not me. 

so for now, lets just forget about your old friends and friendship in general. 

okay? 

**george 16:13**

okay. 

**quackity 16:14**

cool, wanna sit with me during schlatt's quidditch match? 

**george 16:15**

but i always watch them with karl 

**schlatt 16:15**

what did i say, georgie? 

forget about them. 

i'll lend you one of my sweaters too, will you wear it? 

**george 16:16**

a sweater? 

**schlatt 16:16**

from quidditch. we all get one. 

im sure you've seen clay wearing his a couple times. 

**george 16:17**

oh. right.

**schlatt 16:18**

so you'll wear it?

**george 16:18**

yes. 

**quackity 16:18**

damn i dont even get special treatment like this 

schlatt dont act like ur in love with him or something </3 

**schlatt 16:19**

my apologies, quackity. 

i just feel like spoiling the newcomer. we don't want him feeling unappreciated and running away, do we? 

i also think it'd be fun to see his friends reactions. 

**quackity 16:20**

oh shit yeah 

at least you'll be repping the same team your ex-best friend's on, george :) 

**george** **16:21**

i guess. 

**schlatt** **16:22**

and about your friend, nick, he's also a beater. am i wrong? 

**george 16:22**

he is 

**schlatt 16:22**

oh, good. 

lets hope he's got fast reflexes, shall we? 

**quackity 16:23**

ooo 

what are we planning? 

**schlatt 16:23**

nothing. yet. 

he's a good player though, and i don't want people getting distracted from the spotlight. 

do you mind, george? 

**george 16:24**

about what 

**schlatt 16:24**

about if i send your friend off his broom. 

**george 16:25**

im sorry, what? 

**schlatt 16:25**

ah well, i shouldn't really need to ask you. whatever you say doesn't change what i want to do. 

but don't be a crybaby about it, k? 

**quackity 16:26**

you should rile clay up too, he plays better when he's angry.

**george 16:27**

dont do that. 

he needs to stay focused if you really want to win, schlatt. please. 

**schlatt 16:27**

both are good points. 

im not looking for a clean match though. 

if i've already taken you and then get sapnap out, dream will have no reason to lose. 

it's more entertaining when he gets into it, dont you think? 

**george 16:29**

what if he hurts himself? 

you aren't their captain anyway, im sure wilbur wouldn't want this. 

**schlatt 16:29**

who cares what wilbur wants? you definitely shouldn't. 

he would have nothing to be mad about if we won. 

**quackity 16:31**

and you'll totally win, schlatt. 

gryffindor has fuck all compared to you. 

**schlatt 16:34**

thank you, quackity. i appreciate it. 

what do you think, george? 

**george 16:34**

i think you'll do great.

**schlatt 16:35**

thats more like it! 

lets trust that clay manages to catch the snitch, or else there might be consequences. 

**george 16:36**

like what? if you don't mind me asking 

**schlatt 16:36**

dont worry about it, george. 

we'll see how things unfold. 

**george 16:37**

right. 

i'll be going then. 

**quackity 16:37**

bye! 

**schlatt 16:38**

have a good evening, george. 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

george sighed, playing around with the peas on his plate. he didn't feel hungry. techno and eret noticed that, and gave each other the same concerned look before turning back to george. it wasn't like him to not be scoffing his food down already.

"how were your classes?" techno decides to ask, his prefect instincts kicking in, but eret nudged his shoulder as if to say 'really? thats all?' 

george looks up from the table to the two of them. he blinks. "what?" 

"your classes, how were they?" techno asks again, but this time george was actually paying attention. he watches as he goes back to fiddling with his food before answering with a small mumble of "fine." 

eret grabbed his wand and pointed it directly at george, "if you don't start actually eating your food, i will expelliarmus the hell out of your fork." he says, catching george by surprise. they stare at each other for about 2 seconds before bursting into laughter. technoblade smiles, he should really leave it to eret to handle all the cheering up from now on, he wasn't so good at it. george shuffles in his seat. 

"im not having a great day, to be honest." 

the two boys immediately turn their attention and all their focus towards george. 

"what's wrong?" eret asks, followed by technoblade threatening to beat anyone and everyone up. 

george tapped his fingers against the table, how was he supposed to lightly explain how schlatt's sort of definitely manipulating him and that he's messed up all of his friendships in a single day because of that? i mean, maybe karl and sapnap are okay with him but they haven't really talked since their first day back so maybe dream's already told them about his 'betrayal.' at least he has quackity though, he's quite nice when he wants to be, it's just schlatt that he'd like to chuck off a bridge. 

"just teenage things." he replies. 

techno makes a knowing face, "i see." eret turns back to him and gives him a quick look of 'seriously?' before smacking the back of techno's head. he yells. 

"what the fuck?" 

"are you actually kidding, dave? you really choose to believe a simple answer like 'just teenage things.' you're terrible at this." 

technoblade doesn't answer and just shrugs, like he thought, he wasn't so good at this. best to have eret sort it, which was probably what eret was thinking too. 

george lets a small laugh escape under his breath, he was glad to have housemates like those two. he doesn't think he'd be able to cope without them, but they do argue a lot with each other and get caught up in it which was happening now so george didn't really want to interrupt eret telling technoblade off, because frankly he's quite scared to. 

he uses his fork to pick up a piece of roast chicken, he might as well eat since he has nothing else to do. george takes a bite as his eyes wander around the great hall, taking it all in. it was really beautiful at night when all the students were having their dinner. that's when his eyes had managed to land on clay who was actually not too far away from him, he had stood up so george figured he was going to head up to the slytherin common room. 

they always seem to do this, being caught in each other's gaze that is, and it always lasted forever because neither of them wanted to pull away. 

george is tempted to smile at him, and he thinks dream wants to do the same. why are they so weird now? they shouldn't be. the two were so close the day before, if only schlatt hadn't, well, if only _george_ hadn't given into him. he makes the decision to stand up too, wanting to talk to clay, he needed to talk to clay but this time, dream was the first one to pull his eyes away only to have them land on schlatt who was telling him something, george couldn't make it out but it was probably for him to go away. that's when wilbur stood up too and clay followed him. and oh. now he see's schlatt's game. 

he sits back down, and eret's gaze was back on him. 

"i saw that." he says in a whisper. 

"what?" 

"the look you two gave each other." eret answers. 

george scoffs, "what look?" 

"he has a boyfriend, george." 

"thats not what we-" 

"i very much see the appeal in clay." eret continues, "but come on." 

george looks down at his lap, placing his hands there too, "i can't help it." he murmurs and although he couldn't see it, he knew that eret was giving him a look of pity right now. 

"i understand." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you know what would be kinda pog?   
> if you drank some water :]


	8. you find comfort in unexpected ways.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> niki talks to dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its finally friday jesus christ  
> not me having 3 science tests next week and having not revised for any of them hasdhas  
> not me winging it on the tests that'll decide my next 2 years in school sifuhduscuihcv  
> not me ignoring all my friends to write this and then watch friday the 13th after bc fuck friends  
> talking about friends, i need new ones so like i mean hmu haha,,

dream feels like tearing off his skin and ripping out his hair. 

every single fucking time, he somehow manages to get caught in a staring competition with george and every single fucking time, he isn't sure on whether or not he wants to move his eyes away or continue to look at him forever. every single fucking time, it leaves him confused and questioning what the fuck is wrong with himself. 

his stomach hurts, and right now, clay would give anything and everything to avada kedavra the shit out of schlatt and be able to talk to george again without being told to fuck off. 

dream sucks in a harsh breath, then to be startled by an accompanying hand that lingered on his before intertwining them. he'd forgotten that wilbur was there, it probably would have stayed that way if he hadn't made a move to hold his hand. he appreciates the gesture, but it doesn't have the effect the two were hoping it would have. 

"why are you suddenly in a bad mood, clay?" wilbur asks, and dreams sure he met it in a worried way but for some reason, that didn't seem to convey through his words. maybe it was because clay wasn't actually sure why he was suddenly in a bad mood either, the question just happened to piss him off even more. 

"i'm fine. i just," he takes a moment to think, sighing. he disconnects their hands. "i just need to sleep or something. i'm not," clay attempts to gesture something but gives up, "i'm not in the right mindset right now." 

wilbur wanted to understand, he wanted to believe that that was all there was to it but he knew everything wasn't as simple as that. he knew that from the moment schlatt had told him to accompany clay on the way to the common room to stop him from staring at george that something else was probably going on. will didn't like the feeling, or the thoughts that raced through his mind, but he was sure one of the million possibilities he was thinking of was true. so he decides to push him even further. 

"why don't you look at me like that, clay?" his voice sounded more needy than he intended. wilbur wished they were in a better situation to discuss this in. 

dream doesn't say anything for a second. his back is turned to wilbur. he doesn't want to say anything. he knows he has to. 

"what do you mean?" it comes out quiet, a mere mumble. 

wilbur lets out a small laugh, "don't act like you weren't staring at george for minutes on end." he says, "everyone probably noticed, since you were stood up and all." 

clay turns to face him, and he's not quite sure what to respond with. "it wasn't like that." yeah, the classic thing everyone says when they're being suspected of something. super original, dream. 

"how long has it been, clay?" wilbur asks, stepping forward to put their faces inches away from each other, "about 2 years? and.." dream watches him bite his lip, "and i've never seen you look at me like that." he locks their eyes, "never with such longing or sadness, or-" his hands snake their way around his neck, "or love." wilbur says the last part almost as a whisper, as if it were hard to admit or say. and it was. 

clay looks up at him, it's the one thing he manages to get himself to do. his mouth does open to say a few words but only a single breath would come out. wilbur takes an arm from around his neck and uses it to brush his hand against dream's cheek, "i love you, clay." he frowns, "do you even love me back?" 

dream's blinks are nearly exactly in time with the tears staring to fall from wilbur's eyes, and he wants to do nothing but wipe them but even his arms can't even lift themselves. clay does love wilbur, he's said it countless times. he's said it so casually, and he's said it without any shame. only now does dream start to think about what that 'love' he has for will really means. for example, there's a love he has for sapnap, as his longest and closest friend, and there's a love he has for his sister. there's a love he has for quidditch. there's a love he has for george, but at the moment, he isn't sure what kind of love that is either. 

"clay?" 

he desperately needs to find an answer, but sometimes people can be irrational and well, actions can be more powerful than words so instead, dream decides to pull him in for a kiss. it isn't a confirmation on the love, it's just something for them to have in the mean time. wilbur doesn't seem to mind. his arms sink down to rest on clay's chest so he can keep his hands wrapped around the back of his neck, and clay keeps a tight hold on wilbur's waist. 

for now, this is all he can give him and he hopes that it's enough. 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**incoming message from karl >:) **

**karl >:) 19:21 **

helloooooo :D 

**george 19:24**

hey karl 

uh

why are you messaging me lol 

**karl >:) 19:25**

???? can i not message you anymore 

**george 19:25**

i mean, you can but i thought you wouldn't want to 

**karl >:) 19:26 **

clay might have blocked you for whatever reason but you still have me and sapnap as friends!! (＾▽＾)

**george 19:27**

oh, thanks karl. 

**karl >:) 19:27 **

and you and clay will probs make up soon anyways 

he misses you like so much its annoying sometimes 

**george 19:27**

really? 

**karl >:) 19:28 **

yeah anyone can tell 

his mood has gone from 100 to 0 ever since you stopped hanging out with him 

**george 19:29**

sorry.

**karl >:) 19:29 **

im not really the person you should be apologising to 

but its fine!! im sure clay will come to his senses and come crying back to you 

**george 19:29**

i doubt that. 

you need to see the full picture, karl. it's a bit more complicated than that. 

**karl >:) 19:30 **

oh,, 

but as long as you're happy, right? 

**george 19:30**

right. 

**karl >:) 19:31 **

mhm! 

anyways, i was wondering if you wanted to sit next to each other tomorrow? for the quidditch game?? 

**george 19:32**

about that

i know we always sit together but quackity already asked me and i couldnt really say no 

**karl >:) 19:32 **

you say that like its a huge problem, george. 

quackity and i get along too, you know? we can just all sit together. you in the middle. simple! 

you'll have to sneak into the hufflepuff booth again though 

**george 19:34**

thats fine

and good thinking, karl. 

**karl >:) 19:34 **

ikr 

i'll be seeing you though!! 

**george 19:45**

right

cya. 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**incoming message from niki <3 **

**niki <3 20:11**

hi!! 

call me. 

**clay 20:14**

oh uh

okay? 

dream scratches the back of his neck, looking around the common room to make sure everyone was either in their dorms or somewhere else before pressing the 'call' button next to niki's contact number. they rarely ever talked so clay found it quite weird that she had texted him out of nowhere, so, he doubts this will lead to anything good. he hasn't seen wilbur since they separated after the kiss either. he said he has things to do. 

"hello!" 

clay's eyes snap back over to his phone, turning it off speaker and bringing it up to his ear. "hi, niki. how are you?" 

"i'm good, thank you for asking. i actually wanted to see how you were, though." 

was that really important enough to call someone for? dream's confused as shit and only thinks to reply with the first words that come in mind. "i'm alright, i guess? why?" maybe it was a hufflepuff type of thing to randomly call people and see how they were doing or a niki type of thing but it was still strange and out of the blue. 

"you seemed a bit upset at dinner, and wilbur's just come and told me about it. so, is everything actually alright? you can always talk to me." 

dream runs a hand across his face. he doesn't like talking about his feelings. he can never think of the right words to say. "will you tell anyone what i say?" he decides to ask, which is quite a dumb question to ask a person like niki. you could probably trust her with your life and more. 

he hears her let out a laugh, because again, it was a stupid question, "i wont. i cross my heart, dream." she responds. 

clay debates whether or not he should confide in her in his head and there wasn't a reason not to, he supposed. i mean, he might as well vent to someone instead of let it pent up. he shuffles in his seat a bit, looking around again to make sure the room was still empty. "okay." he mutters. 

"oh, good. tell me anything you'd like." 

"well, uh," dream clears his throat, "i'm kind of mad? at george?" 

niki smiles, though he can't see it, and replies, "you sound quite unsure, dream. are you asking me or telling me?" 

clay bites the inside of his cheek. he doesn't know how people just let out their feelings so easily. it's nerve-wracking for him. "i'm telling you." he answers, eyes focused on the fireplace in front of him. 

"and?" 

"and i really feel like hurting schlatt." he says, drawing his wand out of his robe. "and i'm sad. i guess." clay adds, while muttering a quiet 'incendio' to light the firewood. 

"why are you sad, dream?" 

clay chuckles to that question at first, "i've lost my best friend to an asshole, what else am i supposed to be but sad?" he responds, "and i don't know what to do with myself anymore. i mean, was it something i said to make him feel like he was a burden? is that why he's gone?" 

niki's expression softens. "dream,," 

"i think i'm a bit of a wreck without him, i'm not sure why. i just miss him." clay continues, "we're just dumb kids, and this probably won't matter in a few years but even so, i need him now. or something. this is actually kinda stupid, i should get some sleep." 

"wait no, dream--" 

he hangs up. 

dream doesn't think he should be worrying about anything a night before his first quidditch game of the year. if he focuses on that, he'll manage to get his mind off other things so it was good. it was fine. 

everything will turn out fine, just fine. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> niki says you need to drink water today :]


	9. good luck wishes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> george tells dream 'good luck.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hellur :]   
> i hope you've all had a good day/night. i just finished up with mastering black ops 4 (not to brag or anything, im actually a bit shit but we dont talk about that) and was going to watch mcc but feel too tired so here i am updating before taking a well deserved nap.

**incoming message from 'george fucking unblock me'**

**george 8:12**

dream please unblock me 

**sapnap 8:12**

haha 

how the tables have turned 

**clay 8:13**

shut the fuck up sapnap 

**george 8:13**

shut the fuck up sapnap 

oh 

jinx 

**sapnap 8:14**

this is discrimination 

bullying, if you will 

**karl >:) 8:14 **

be quiet nick 

**sapnap 8:14**

ok 

**george 8:15**

what a simp 

anyways 

unblock me? 

**clay 8:15**

yeah 

okay. why? 

**sapnap 8:16**

he wants to confess his love for you in private 

**karl >:) 8:16 **

sapnap dont you have quidditch practice to get to 

**george 8:17**

yeah what karl said 

and no, i dont want to confess anything to you. 

i just wanted to wish you luck i guess

**clay 8:18**

okay. 

**george 8:18**

so good luck. 

i know you'll do great, dream. 

**clay 8:18**

thanks 

**sapnap 8:19**

shouldnt you wish me good luck too 

like 

**george 8:19**

good luck sapnap 

**sapnap 8:20**

yeahhhhhh 

lets goooooooooo 

;) 

**karl >:) 8:21 **

nick i think you should let them talk without interrupting every 2 minutes 

**clay 8:21**

i think so too. 

**sapnap 8:21**

fine 

yall are just mean smfh 

message me instead karl, we dont need to be around bullies 

**karl >:) 8:22 **

okay c: 

**karl >:) has left the group chat **

**sapnap has left the group chat**

**george 8:24**

i feel like they dont realise how much they both simp for each other 

**clay 8:24**

tell me about it. 

it's like they know there's something there but are too dumb to act on it. 

**george 8:25**

ugh right??? 

sometimes i just wanna smash their faces together 

as mean as that sounds 

**clay 8:25**

haha yeah 

it'll probably do them some good. 

**george 8:26**

are you nervous, dream? 

**clay 8:26**

for the quidditch match? no. 

their seeker has nothing on me 

**george 8:27**

of course you'd say that 

but just be careful 

**clay 8:28**

sure. 

is schlatt planning to sabotage his own team or something? 

**george 8:29**

i wouldnt be surprised, but no. not exactly. 

im sorry by the way, dream. 

**clay 8:31**

its fine. 

i shouldnt be angry that you've made new friends. from what i know, quackity's quite funny. 

**george 8:31**

yeah just like me 

**clay 8:32**

george you're like the most unfunniest funny person i know 

**george 8:32**

i'll accept that. 

how are you and wilbur? 

**clay 8:33**

fine 

**george 8:34**

that's a bit vague, dream. 

are you sure you're both just fine? 

dream?

dont leave me hanging 

you can talk to me if you want 

i know its been a while and i've been a bit of a dick but 

come on

dream?? 

dreamy?? 

**clay 8:38**

can you stop that? 

**george 8:39**

stop what? 

dream. 

**clay 8:39**

that. 

**george 8:40**

clay? 

do you want me to call you clay? 

**clay 8:41**

..

yes. 

**george 8:41**

oh my god 

you could have said 

i thought i did something wrong jesus 

anyways didnt you prefer to be called by your nickname 

**clay 8:44**

i like when you use clay more, george. 

**george 8:44**

oh 

okay. 

**clay 8:45**

okay..? 

**george 8:45**

okay, clay 

ur so dumb 

**clay 8:46**

i think 'cute' is a more fitting word. 

**george 8:47**

whatever 

**clay 8:47**

just admit im cute georgeeeee 

im the cutest 

like actually 

**george 8:48**

shut up 

ur the most not-cute person i have ever met 

**wilbur 8:48**

as much as i love the conversation you two are having, im going to have to steal clay away. 

we need to meet everyone in the locker rooms soon. 

**clay 8:50**

already??? 

okay ig 

will you be doing your captains speech 

**wilbur 8:52**

yes. 

**clay 8:52**

nice 

you're always so serious, it's adorable 

**wilbur 8:53**

just 

get to the locker room by 9, clay. 

**clay 8:53**

okayy 

bye georgie :) 

**george 8:54**

good luck 

**clay 8:54**

oh

hey

**george 8:55**

what? 

**clay 8:55**

be my friend again if i win this. 

anyways, im coming will. 

**wilbur 8:55**

k. 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**incoming message from karl >:) **

**karl >:) 8:55 **

i'll be cheering for you, sapnap. 

just wanted to tell you. 

**sapnap 8:56**

you better be.

**karl >:) 8:56 **

if you win, i'll tell you a secret. 

**sapnap 8:57**

hm 

what kind of secret 

**karl >:) 8:57 **

a secret kind of secret. 

**sapnap 8:57**

tempting. 

oh, and you'll have to buy me 5 butterbeers next time we got to hogsmeade. 

**karl >:) 8:58 **

deal. 

**sapnap 8:58**

im definitely winning this now 

i have to get dressed so

**karl >:) 8:59 **

wave to me in the stands!! 

**sapnap 8:59**

jesus karl 

you're so like 

you know

**karl >:) 8:59 **

so like what? 

**sapnap 9:00**

i'll tell you later. 

**karl >:) 9:00 **

okay,,

good luck!!!!!!! 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyways update me on the mcc situation or something and remember to drink water


	10. snitches get bitches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the quidditch game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GREEN GUARDIANS SUPREMACY DAFUQ

**incoming message from techno**

**techno 9:34**

win this or i'll curse you 

bye 

or better yet lose, not like i care or anything 

but win though. 

dream was glad he had decided to check his phone one last time before the game. him and technoblade had a running rivalry going on, but they didn't want the other to fail nonetheless. he switches off the device and slips it away in his robes, making a grab for his broom.

the first quidditch game of the season and clay was surprisingly not shaking in his boots. i guess you get used to it after a while, that didn't mean it gets boring though. just repetitive. 

drista catches up to him and snakes her arm around his while giving her brother a big toothy smile when he looked back down at her in surprise. dream's reminded of when she had made the team near the start of 2nd year and how much she bragged about it since it took dream until his 3rd year, and he's reminded of how protective and anxious he felt during their first game together. he didn't want her to hurt herself, but all of that changed when he had caught sight of her mid-game with the happiest expression on her face. it was like the first time clay had played quidditch. the two became a formidable pair after that. 

"what's with that grin on your face?" he asks her as they both make their way to the others, drista shrugs the question off. "you didn't torment tommy again, did you?" 

"oh come on! it's so funny, and it's not like i meant for it to affect how he plays or something." she replies, and dream rolls his eyes. he isn't sure whether to find hers and tommy's banter amusing or troubling. it's most likely the latter when bringing the two together. 

they continue to talk a bit. dream keeps telling her to make sure not to get knocked off her broom by a bludger and she keeps telling him to have more faith in her, which he does. he's sure drista could probably take out the whole of gryffindor if she wanted but he doesn't wanna give her any ideas or widen her ego. though this time, drista's the one worrying about clay. she's begun to hold a grudge on george ever since he had left dream for a stinky man like schlatt. her brother was her idol, and she loved him more than anything so she wasn't very pleased when he had ended up practically crying to her about it. drista hopes it won't affect his performance. she squeezes her arm tighter around his for a moment. dream smiles at the small act of reassurance. 

wilbur spots the siblings making their way towards him and beckons them to join the rest of the team. it looked like he was in the middle of a speech before they had arrived. schlatt walks over from his spot to dreams, everyone else had basically parted like the red sea in his path. 

"tardiness is a bad habit." he says. drista glares daggers at him in response. wilbur notices the weird vibe beginning to circle around the room and decides to continue talking. 

he clears his throat, clasping his hands together. "as i was saying," he starts, smiling when everyones heads had turned back to face him, "i want a fair, clean game from all of you." wilbur's eyes set on schlatt's during that part. his eyebrow twitched as he watched him smirk in return. he chooses to ignore it. "i'm sure we would rather win knowing we just did better than the other team than knowing that we won by cheating, so no rough play, okay? no snarky comments. no 'accidental' nudges, and no jinxes." wilbur continues, "so the best of luck to all of you. we can win this first game." the team nods, and he hopes his message got to everyone. 

schlatt tucks his hands in his pockets, murmuring a small, "where's the fun in all of that?" before grabbing his broom and starting to walk towards the entrance. the others follow after, wilbur in front. 

dream releases a breath he didn't realise he was holding as he mounted his broom. 

the barrier began to rise, hitting him with sunlight almost instantly. it was a nice day outside. 

drista pokes his shoulder and gives him a thumbs up before flying off with some of the chasers. clay immediately recognises the voice narrating, and he felt at ease then. he takes off with schlatt next to him. 

"good morning everyone! welcome to hogwarts first quidditch game of the season, slytherin vs gryffindor." tubbo starts off light, "if only we had screens or something, right? though you could see gryffindor's keeper looking eager as ever, but that doesn't compare to wilbur's aura! shit, its like--OW," the students laugh as a professor hits the back of tubbo's head with a notebook. he forgets about maintaining his language sometimes. toby whimpers into the mic before continuing, "um, so, let's just wait for them all to get in position." he says. 

george gives dream a smile in return to a small wave he received, but his expression immediately changes when he looks away. quackity rests his head in his arms as he turns to look at george, "where's the sweater then?" he teases. karl whips around to face them, "sweater?" he asks, and alex was about to explain everything until george smacked his hand against his mouth. "it's a long story, but.." george sighed, taking his robes off to reveal a piece of dark green clothing underneath. karl blinks at him. "isn't that--" 

"schlatts? yes. i was basically forced into it so dont think any ideas." 

karl stifles a laugh, stopping to examine the sweater a bit more before choosing to adjust it, and by adjust it, i mean that he just pulled george's collar out and straightened it a bit. 

"cute." he says, facing back towards the game. 

everyone's started to whizz around when george brings his attention back towards the pitch, and gryffindor's already ahead by 20 points. he spots drista and schlatt flying towards a bludger together, and he seems to be whispering something in her ear before the two separate. george isn't sure what schlatt had said until drista draws her bat and hits the bludger flying towards tommy. it strikes him in the side before he could even process it coming and results in him turning upside down and back again on his broom. it's enough for slytherin to gain 10 more points without a keeper to stop them. schlatt makes a nod towards drista, which is probably the most confirmation george has ever seen him give someone. 

tubbo accidentally expresses a small bias in that move when he lets out a few more cuss words towards slytherin, causing him to have his narration taken over by a professor for about 5 minutes. he isn't that bothered by it. it isn't long until he's back on the mic anyways. 

"okay well, i hope you're alright tommy," he first announces, receiving a quick thumbs up from him before continuing, "now, phil seems to have the quaffle, and he's zooming towards the other end of the pitch. let's go phil! but oh shi-- i mean, oh god, it looks like schlatt's making his way towards him. i mean, surely he can't do anything, he's a beater so like-- oh jesus, well okay. point proven wrong." tubbo chuckles nervously as everyone watches schlatt send phil toppling over with a swift kick, ball no longer with him. he holds a hand up to his teammates behind him as they catch the quaffle, it was like his signal for 'you're welcome.' 

dream sees wilbur's face contort when flying past him, still on search for the snitch. it normally takes a while for him to get his head fully in game, due to all the yelling and cheering happening in the background and focusing on dodging all of the bludgers, but when he does, it's like nothing in the world matters except for this moment. he makes a dive towards the ground as he's sure he had spotted a golden speck there for a mere second. he was right. gryffindor's seeker had just so managed to catch up to it first, though. 

"i think we now have eye on the snitch as both seekers fuc-- i mean, freaking charge for it. dream seems to be gaining the lead here, although being a bit late to seeing it. woah! careful there you two, that bludger could have knocked them both out but drista seems to be on it. we love to see it. oh jesus and um, it looks like slytherin's scored another 10 points again. nearly missed that one, phew." tubbo makes a swiping motion with his hand, "they seem to be making a comeback with 30 points ahead of gryffindor! but sapnap might be able to earn those points back as he catches the ball midair!" 

clay sees schlatt coming towards him from his peripheral vision, he would give anything to make him fall to the ground right now. 

"keep your eyes on the ball, but listen to me." schlatt's shoulder to shoulder with him now, as well as the gryffindor's seeker but schlatt quickly tells him to fuck off. "you're gonna win this for us, clay. if you don't catch that fucking snitch, i'm gonna do worse than just curse your sister and steal away your best friend this time. k?" dream whips his head around to face him with widened eyes only to be met with a quick smile and then schlatt had flown off again. dickhead. 

a lot of things were riding on him catching the snitch, huh? well. fucking alright then. if that's what people wanted, that's exactly what they're gonna get. 

dream directs his broom back towards gryffindor's seeker, and just as he was about to clash with him, clay puts more force into it and ends up sending them rolling over to the same booth george and karl were in. 

george ducks and watches the seeker wait to gain control of his broom again before flying off. "what the fuck?" karl says, and quackity lets out a loud whoop in response. "that's more like it! god, if dream was this aggressive more often, i might just start tolerating him." he comments. george bites his lip instead of responding, he doesn't like seeing this side of dream come out, what could schlatt have told him? 

tubbo stops speaking into the mic just as that had occurred, and the only thing everyone heard was the cheering of slytherins and some chants of 'dream.' 

"that was,," he sucks in a breath, "pretty fucking cool, dream! it's quite rare to-- hey, don't you dare hit me with that book again." tubbo tells the professor behind him, while also managing to dodge it, "you guys love my commentary, right?" everyone shouts in response, "see? i told you professor. uh, anyways, what was i saying? oh. right. it's quite rare to see dream express anger towards someone, especially in quidditch. he must be pretty into getting that snitch, huh? i do hope the other seekers alright though. ooo, and talking about that snitch, it's getting kind of close to one of the stands, right? is it just me that sees that? oh god, don't collide with it. please, jesus. i can't watch." tubbo snaps his eyes shut and george was about to laugh along with every other student until he realised that the booth dream and gryffindor's seeker was about to collide in was his booth. 

karl's hand immediately darts to grip onto his thigh, and quackity shrieks. george decides to just shut his eyes and hope for the best, as tubbo is too, but the impact doesn't come. 

actually, everything seemed to have gone quiet. 

did,,did george die? 

he slowly begins to open his eyes again, and he's quite shocked to find dream mere inches away from him. the seconds that go by feel like hours as they continue to stare at each other, but then clay's eyes move over to the side of george's head where his hand was. his hand that held the snitch in it. 

it takes 5 seconds. 5 seconds until the crowd starts yelling in either excitement or disappointment. 

karl watches sapnap immediately halt on his broom, managing to impressively catch a flying bludger right into his hand as the other players begin to stop flying with him. 

tubbo stammers for a bit, "i--" even he's taking a while to process how close that was to turning into shit, but it didn't, and,, well, "cl-- dream's, dream's caught the snitch." he starts off quietly before finally clicking everything into place, "dream's caught the snitch and has won 150 points to slytherin! meaning, that the game has ended and his team have won, which is crazy by the way. that was an amazing game, everyone. i'm sure you can all agree and dream pulling in with that save was just the cherry on top. like, george could have fucking died if both seekers had actually charged into him. that would have been--" tubbo interrupts himself with a small gasp, and everyone seems to have quietened down after that again. 

all eyes were on dream, who had appeared to of gotten off his broom in the middle of tubbo's talking, and having dropped the snitch into george's palms before moving his hands to hold his cheeks. george had stood up to give him a hug but instead was pulled into the opposite. his eyes widened as he realised that dream was kissing him. dream was kissing him in his quidditch uniform after a quidditch game with everyone watching them, and george liked it. he had craved nothing more. his arms had brought themselves around clay's neck, pulling him down into the kiss even more, snitch still clutched in his hand from when dream had given it to him. clay smiled into it, moving his hands down to grip george's waist. he's never felt more content. 

and everyone seemed to love it. tubbo even fell out of his trance and begun laughing into the mic, "whoo! let's go, dream!"

the only people that didn't appreciate it were wilbur and schlatt, who were pretty torn up. one more than the other. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember to drink some water <3


	11. pretty little lies and the ugly truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wilbur's heartbroken and karlnap content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gm everyone :)  
> i hope you've all had a good day/night, i've just woken up so yk why not update, as i do on sunday mornings. i would shamelessly plug my twitter but maybe next time

**incoming message from tommyinnit**

**tommyinnit 12:34**

ur a dickhead i hope u know that dream 

**clay 12:35**

is wilbur with you? 

can i talk to him? 

**tommyinnit 12:35**

i wouldnt let you talk to him even if you payed me 

..

are you gonna pay me? 

**clay 12:36**

no. 

**tommyinnit 12:36**

then my words still stand! 

you are scum by the way, clay. what is wrong with you? kissing people in front of your boyfriend after winning a quidditch match. 

**clay 12:38**

i wasnt thinking 

**tommyinnit 12:40**

dont even give me that 'i wasnt thinking' bullshit.

look, if you do want to be with george, then you should have told him first. im sure it doesn't feel great watching the person who's supposed to love you kiss someone else. you're going to have to break up with wilbur, you know that, right? 

**clay 12:42**

yes, but i cant do that if you wont let me talk to him

**tommyinnit 12:43**

oh.

he's in the gryffindor common room.

and before you come here, i want you to know that you never deserved wilbur.

he is the best person i have ever met and i can't believe you would rather have someone else. 

you're gonna break up with him and you're gonna do it in the most respectful way imaginable. 

asshole. 

also, tubbo did awful with the commentary right? 

**clay 12:45**

it was a mess. 

**tommyinnit 12:45**

at least it was pretty funny though 

**clay 12:46**

yeah, it was alright at times. 

i think most of our professors hate him now but 

**tommyinnit 12:46**

nahh he took one for the team 

i liked it, despite the fact that he might not be allowed to narrate anymore games after this one. 

**clay 12:47**

yeah. 

anyways bye 

**tommyinnit 12:47**

oh right yeah 

fuck u and that 

bye 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**incoming message from karl >:) **

**karl >:) 13:11**

u ok 

**sapnap 13:11**

why wouldnt i be 

**karl 13:11**

you kinda looked really idk

mad? 

after dream and george kissed so 

**sapnap 13:12**

well i did just lose a quidditch game 

**karl >:) 13:12 **

yeah but it was to dream so i thought you'd be like bummed but still hyped 

do you like george or something? lol 

**sapnap 13:13**

believe me karl, you'd be surprised. 

**karl >:) 13:14 **

is it dream :O 

**sapnap 13:14**

oh god no 

that'd be way too much testosterone for one relationship 

**karl >:) 13:15 **

then whats up 

**sapnap 13:16**

i just really wanted to win for you 

which sounds dumb, i know. 

**karl >:) 13:18 **

nonono

thats not dumb at all what the honk 

its so sweet but its fine if you didnt win, i still thought you were super cool 

**sapnap 13:18**

haha thanks karl 

you're a great friend 

**karl >:) 13:19 **

damn right i am!! 

now can we PLEASE talk about dream kissing george. i have been waiting forever. 

**sapnap 13:20**

hm

okay. hit me with one of your long analytical paragraphs again or something. 

**karl >:) 13:31**

yes!! this wont be that long but oh my god. OH MY GOD. the moment clay caught the snitch right next to george's face. the stare they gave each other. the way he pulled george in. IT WAS TOO FUCKING MUCH AND I GOT FRONT. ROW. SEATS. BITCH. FRONT ROW SEATS. don't even get me started on the way everyone stopped and stared at dream when they realised the game was over, especially you. fucking you stopping in like 0.5 seconds and catching a bludger that was flying right into your HAND. fucking you not even flinching or bracing for impact. FUCKING YOU OWNING THAT POWER MOVE. it was my personal favourite moment of the game and nobody can convince me otherwise. holy shit and the audacity clay had to have kissed george right in front of everyone, including wilbur. that was some netflix movie type of shit idefk man. THE WAY DREAM HOPPED BACK ONTO HIS BROOM AND FLEW OFF AFTER. THE WAY THEY PARTED AND SMILED AT EACH OTHER LIKE DORKS. but like i kinda wanted to wack both of them because not in front of my baby wilbur!! not fucking here, not fucking now. BUT ALSO AS THEY SHOULD??? but also no because we don't like cheaters. idk about you but im still experiencing leftover emotions from that emotional rollercoaster dream had the balls to take me on. motherfucker said 'best friends to lovers trope starts now.' 

and yeah so 

yeah. 

**sapnap 13:34**

'this wont be that long' my ass 

also best friends to lovers trope???

**karl >:) 13:35 **

omfg nick 

its like a common concept where two best friends fall in love you nimrod 

**sapnap 13:35**

oh. 

common, huh? 

**karl >:) 13:36 **

yeah but the enemies to lovers one is like way better. i would rather fall in love with a certified bad boy 

**sapnap 13:37**

what if you fell in love with your best friend who was a certified bad boy 

**karl >:) 13:37 **

yeah but i dont know anyone like that 

**sapnap 13:38**

im gonna pretend that my feelings arent hurt 

**karl >:) 13:39 **

what? 

**sapnap 13:39**

its nothing. wanna hang out later? there's a piano in our common room and i wanna show off my sick skillz 

**karl >:) 13:40 **

ur probably gonna break it 

**sapnap 13:40**

stfu 

heart been broke so many times

**karl >:) 13:40 **

ok whatever saddo 

wait for me at the gryffindor entrance in 10 minutes c: 

**sapnap 13:41**

yessir yessir 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> roses are red,  
> violets are blue,  
> water is sexy,  
> and you should drink it. like actually. i know this doesnt rhyme but drink water >:[  
> also you know what, add my discord - boohoo#6969


	12. even the worst things have things to love them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dream and wilbur talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so  
> first science test of the week and i passed with flying colours, no revision whatsoever. thats called big brain.  
> anyways the mitochondria is the power house of the cell and i hope you've all had a good day/night because i sure have >:]

**incoming message from clay**

**clay 13:11**

can we talk please 

**wilbur 13:14**

i dont want to talk to you at the moment, clay. 

**clay 13:14**

oh. 

dream chuckles nervously and rubs the back of his neck. he really should have asked wilbur beforehand if he wanted to see him, since now clay was kind of in an awkward position. said awkward position being a metre behind from him, that is. 

wilbur doesn't give dream much of a reaction as he turns his head to see him standing there, just a bit of an annoyed expression, which is expected. 

"i'm really sorry, will. i--" 

"how can you act so fucking unbothered right now, clay?" wilbur asks, and dream thinks that he's getting up to leave but is quite taken aback when a harsh slap hits him across the face. "you kissed your best friend in front of me." he says, now barely inches away from dream. 

he sucks in a breath. "wilbur--" 

"you broke my heart." his voice cracks. dream thinks he's about to cry. he doesn't. 

wilbur just refrains from speaking for a moment, because he thinks he might start to cry as well. he grips the hem of clay's shirt to contain some of his anger before looking back up from the ground and into his eyes. "don't you understand that, clay?" 

and maybe dream's a dickhead, or just fucking stupid, but it never really sunk in until now about what he did. he didn't think much of it then, clay just felt like kissing george. well, actually no. he wanted to kiss george and he decided to, which he's realising was something he shouldn't have done. 

he stares down at the hand clinging to his shirt. there isn't much he can say to make things better, is there? 

"clay." wilbur says it in almost a whisper, "clay, look at me." and so he does. dream's eyes begin to scan all over wilbur's face, and the scariest part is that he can't sense any hint of emotion lingering there at all. "you're the first person to break my heart." he says, and there's something in those words that sting. it makes clay's stomach churn a bit. "for the rest of my life, you will always be the person who has hurt me the most." wilbur tells him with such conviction that dream could have pissed himself, "i want you to remember that." 

dream gulps. he's really fucked up, hasn't he? 

he decides to move his hand to the one wilbur has on his shirt. he hesitates. flinches. and then he lightly places it on top. "i'm sorry." is all that clay manages to say. 

wilbur smiles for a second, "oh, wow." he replies, harshly ripping his own hand away from dream's, "but fuck you." 

"look, i just wasn't thinking, or well, no. i was thinking. i just shouldn't have chosen to kiss him." 

"but you did choose to kiss him, clay. everything is your choice. you chose to date me. you chose to date me for 2 fucking years and then you fucking chose to throw it all fucking away." wilbur takes a step back, eyebrows furrowed. he isn't sure whether to be angry or sad. 

dream manages to maintain eye contact with him for about 15 seconds before blinking his eyes off to the side, and then to the floor. he moves his hands to cover his face, mumbling "i'm such a dickhead," before roughly wiping them off. he looks back at wilbur to see him still staring towards him. 

clay watches as he clench his fists, and he takes in a breath before speaking again. "clay, do you know what the worst part is?" he asks, and dream opens his mouth to say 'no,' but ends up just shaking his head. wilbur laughs. "i think a small part of me knew that you wanted to be with george. i think that small part of me always knew, and i was just fucking stupid enough to believe that you would never act on it." he bites his lip to stop him from yelling the following words, "i asked you if you loved me, and you didn't answer, but i guess you don't have to anymore." 

"wilbur--" 

"don't you think that i deserve to be with someone who fucking loves me just as much as i love them?" wilbur interrupts him. as if on cue, tears had started streaming down his face the moment he had finished the question. "you never loved me, clay. at least, i don't think. maybe you did at some point but, but it's like i was just a distraction from george." he says, "was i a distraction?" 

dream's quick to answer this time. "i do love you, wilbur. you--" 

"that's such bullshit, clay. can you just be fucking--" 

"i am being fucking honest, wilbur. will you just god damn listen to me without interrupting for one fucking second?" dream practically yells it at him, and as much as he regretted it when seeing the hurt expression that appeared all over wilbur's face, it still manages to shut him up. dream releases a harsh breath before continuing, "you mean so much to me, and my feelings for you when we were dating were real. george just, he just means--" 

"he just means more to you?" wilbur finishes, and dream nods. 

wilbur scoffs. of course he does. he always knew that he'd always be in second place when it came to george. it wasn't fucking fair. none of it was fucking fair. clay grew up with george and had met wilbur during his 2nd year. he's not sure if it was dream wanting to deny his feelings for his best friend or the fact that he just genuinely liked wilbur, but he was the one to ask him out that afternoon in summer. wilbur was dumb to think that his feelings were returned, and he was dumb to end up falling in love with him. he shouldn't have said yes, but it was fucking dream. it was fucking dream and his god-awful jokes, and his stupid fucking wheezes and the way he just makes you want to talk to him more. it was dream, and wilbur couldn't have dreamt of saying no to someone like that. 

he starts walking off until he bumps shoulders with clay, and he halts. "i think," he moves his head to mumble in his ear, "i think i'll love you forever, dream." wilbur says and dream's eyes widen slightly, but he makes sure to keep facing forward. clay doesn't think he can handle looking at wilbur in that moment, but he continues to walk off after muttering something dream could barely make out. 

"and that's the problem." 

clay doesn't move for a while. his body feels stiff and he stays standing in the middle of the gryffindor common room before two familiar voices could be heard from the entrance. why is it that karl and sapnap appear every single time dream feels like screaming his lungs out?

he wants to see george. 

he thinks that, possibly, that might calm him down. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit we should all play among us together it'd be so fun  
> i have like no mcyt moots to fuck around with, oh and also remember to drink some water


	13. clair de lune

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> george and dream being george and dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls this took a span of 3 days to finish writing i was so unmotivated anyways read heat waves

**incoming message from clay**

**clay 19:19**

where are you? 

**george 19:19**

ravenclaw common room, why? 

**clay 19:20**

can i see you? 

**george 19:21**

you want to see me?? 

**clay 19:21**

that is what i asked, yes. 

i just want to see you. is that okay? 

**george 19:22**

its more than :] 

i can wait for you outside and we could hang out here? 

**clay 19:22**

no, i don't feel like running into technoblade. 

**george 19:22**

i understand you two have a rivalry thing but i never realised you actually hated him or something lol 

**clay 19:23**

its not that. we're cool. 

its just that wilbur and him are close and i don't feel like getting sucker punched. 

**george 19:24**

oh. 

so then we could go to your common room? 

**clay 19:24**

no, i wouldn't do that to you. 

**george 19:24**

you say that like slytherins are horrible people 

**clay 19:25**

we are, george. 

schlatt's a manipulative asshole, i've just so happened to start cheating on people, drista fucking hates you at the moment. i could go on. 

**george 19:27**

your sister hates me????? 

**clay 19:28**

why are you surprised? you did break my heart, you know? leaving me for schlatt and all 

**george 19:28**

oh shut up clay, like you're one to talk. 

**clay 19:29**

touché. 

do you feel like stargazing though 

**george 19:30**

what? with you? 

**clay 19:30**

no, with sapnap.

yes with me. idiot. 

**george 19:31**

i guess it doesnt sound too bad,, 

**clay 19:32**

shut up, you'll love it. 

i'll race you downstairs

**george 19:32**

what no 

clay im not as athletic as you are this isnt fair 

clay 

clay :[ 

**clay 19:33**

cant talk, too busy running 

**george 19:33**

ughhh 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

sapnap places himself on the stool in front of the piano, patting down to the empty spot next to him for karl to sit down too. he shakes his head, something about not wanting to damage anything in the gryffindor common room. nick said he was stupid for thinking he'd immediately break a chair the moment he sat on it. karl just crossed him arms and looked away out of pettiness. 

"you probably can't even play the piano, nick." karl says, "quidditch is your only strong suit."

sapnap's response is amorous. "now, that's where you're wrong." 

maybe it was the way he had said it but karl felt a little hot and bothered after. he's blushing right now, and he hopes sapnap doesn't notice or he'll never let it down. you know what? karl does need to sit down for a bit, he isn't well suited to the 'being in love with your best friend and having to contain that' lifestyle. sapnap looks at him and shoots a brief smile, hands moving up to the keys. 

"i'm gonna be honest with you, karl." he begins, "i've only ever learnt two songs." 

"well, they better be good." 

nick grins before beginning to play a random tune to get himself prepared and warmed up. he's gonna blow karl away for sure. 

"my mum always played für elise in the dining room, and one day i had asked why she never just let her wand play the notes for her and she'd say that it was more fun to learn it, so that's what i did." sapnap explains, straightening his posture as he finally began the actual thing. 

"is that what you're playing right now?" 

sapnap smiles at him before turning back and mumbling a small, "no." he starts to build it up, "no, not at all." 

karl sits back and watches in awe as he examines how quickly but gracefully nick's fingers glide from each note to the next. he had to admit, his expectations were quite low until now. the tune was familiar, the way sapnap played it almost made it feel like home. warmth. it was beautiful. he found it quite hard to believe that someone as goofy and 'manly' as nick looked so focused from just the piano. 

"how-" karl coughs, "how do you do that?" 

nick stops immediately, like he knew he was gonna ask, and turns back over to him. karl kinda wishes that sapnap would never have stopped playing the piano, though. he liked it. 

"come here, i'll teach you." 

karl's confused for a second, what does he mean by come here? isn't he already 'here?' but then nick gestures to his lap and everything seems to make sense, though it doesn't really make sense because now karl was flustered at the thought of sitting on nick's lap and learning how to play the piano. he begins to scoot over a bit until his knee bumps into sapnaps. he inhales, lifting his body up and onto his thighs. 

sapnap laughs. "karl, i didn't mean _on_ my lap. i meant like, in between my legs or something." 

karl's eyes widen and he ends up smashing his forehead into the keyboard, "oh my god! you could have fucking said, im so sorry i'll--" 

"i don't mind either way." nick says, grabbing onto karl's waist and holding it firmly so he'd stay on, "it's fine." 

"oh- okay," karl mumbles quietly, placing his hands onto the piano. he's never really grown up with musical instruments, his family were more into watching tv and attending the quidditch cup every year or so. the keys fall so perfectly with his fingers. he likes the feeling. sapnap slips his hands under karl's own, beginning to continue the same tune. karl releases a shaky breath. nick's hands were warm, and he could feel every time they moved over to a new key. 

"did your mum teach you this too?" he finally speaks up, trying to turn his head around only to realise that sapnap was resting his chin on his shoulder. his eyes flickered from the piano to karl's. 

nick smiles, "she only taught me für elise. tommy taught me this one." 

"tommy?" karl asks, heart hammering in his chest. 

"he's surprisingly good at it, you know?" 

karl turns his head back to the instrument, "really?" it came out as a whisper. he could feel sapnap nodding into his neck, his hair rubbing against his jawline. karl swallows. "what's it called?" 

"clair de lune." 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

dream doesn't let go of george's hand for most of their walk outside, and he refuses to stop looking at him. george finds it embarrassing and keeps calling him a simp but dream doesn't mind. he'd simp any day, as long as it was for george. 

the two stop when they reach the middle of the quidditch field. they aren't really allowed here at night, or when they didn't have any games for that matter, but clay wanted to be somewhere quiet and the stars always looked the best here. george was taking astronomy so dream thought it would be a nice idea to bring him outside to observe the sky. 

he disentangled their fingers and took off his robe, placing it onto the grass. dream places himself on top of it, beginning to lay down. george follows after him, placing his head on clay's stomach and laying sideways to him. 

"do you sneak all of your boyfriends in here to watch the stars?" george is the first to speak, and dream only laughs. his hand drops next to george's head and george moves his hand up to hold it again. clay hums. 

"you're the first." he replies softly. 

george's heart feels all a flutter and he smiles, "okay." he says quietly. 

they lie there for a bit in complete silence after that. it was the kind of comfortable peace that falls among people every now and then and they just revelled in it, blinking up at the constellations. the atmosphere in the pitch was way different compared to the loud cheers of everyone in the stands. george thinks he likes it better this way, but clay likes the adrenaline that rushes through him while people are screaming at him in the crowd. 

"i think i've loved you from the first time i saw you, clay." george says. it caught dream by a shit ton of surprise, and he doesn't know how to respond to that because it was such a bold statement to make out of nowhere but he doesn't have to because george decides to continue. "we were 13, and it was during our 2nd year here. i was so scared of the way i felt," he bites his lip as he stops for a minute to look up at clay, who was staring back down at him with so much wonder and attention that it made his chest fill with butterflies, "you know," george proceeds, turning back up at the stars, "liking a boy." 

dream doesn't stop staring down at him, watching how george's chest rises and falls with his breathing or how his lips move every time he starts to speak again. 

"i kissed girls and stuff like that to make it go away, but clearly that didn't work." he smiles, and clay smiles too, "um," george hesitates, "when you kissed me, it felt like the scariest thing i had ever been through." he feels dream squeeze his hand, "because then i knew for sure that you were the one and only person who could ruin my life." 

clay releases a breath. 

george knows he wants to say something, but he won't let him. not yet. 

"i think i pushed you away in spite of that feeling," he says, "in spite of you." george adds on, "and, thats why i started that whole thing with schlatt. i just didn't want you to have that hold on me, and i was so fucking terrified of putting myself through pain for you that i couldn't handle it anymore. i hated it." he isn't sure if he wants to cry, but this is the first time in forever that george is pouring out his emotions and he doesn't think he can stop. "i hated seeing you with wilbur, and that's so selfish of me because you were so fucking happy but i couldn't bare it." his voice cracks. 

clay sits up, causing george to sit up too. "i-" he feels dream's hand slide down onto his cheek and they look at each other, "i didn't wanna be a slave to the way i felt-- feel, to the way i feel about you." he ends up correcting himself, "you stopped talking to me after that too and it was so horrible," dream wipes at the tear beginning to fall from george's eye, "because really, clay, i'd die for you." 

george moves his hand up to touch dreams, "do you understand that?" he asks. clay smiles and places a small kiss on his eyelid in response, "you mean everything to me, george." he answers softly. 

"i never want you to forget that." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayo remember to drink some water


	14. its scary that the heart makes no noise when it breaks.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> karl gets insecure and nick gets super fucking pissed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me and my best friend started going on weekly mc dates to feel less lonely and i told him not to fall in love with me to be funny and it was funny until i started falling in love with him haha send help pls

**incoming message from unknown**

**unknown 13:24**

hello, karl jacobs. 

**karl >:) 13:25 **

woahhh this is so creepy what 

dude dont just text people like 'hello, insert full name here' jesus 

who is this lol 

**unknown 13:25**

i've just recently discovered your name. i'd like to use it as much as i can, karl. 

is that what your friends call you? 

**karl >:) 13:26 **

lmao duh what else would they call me 

**unknown 13:27**

i wasnt quite sure. you just dont seem to fit in with any of them. 

**karl >:) 13:27 **

okay sir or ma'am, you're kinda beginning to hurt my feelings here so pls stop >:( 

**unknown 13:29**

oh, my apologies. that wasn't the intent, i was just stating the obvious, karl. 

may i ask a question? 

**karl >:) 13:30 **

i think im done with weird messages for today 

**unknown 13:31**

its harmless, i promise. 

**karl >:) 13:31 **

well, whats the question? im kinda curious now mr/mrs mystery guy. 

**unknown 13:33**

mr mystery guy is fine, karl. 

and i was just wondering if you knew what a burden you were to them 

**karl >:) 13:33 **

hey thats not very cool dude 

how did you even get my number 

**unknown 13:34**

dont worry about that, karl. 

could you answer my question? 

pretty please? 

**karl >:) 13:36 **

im sure they wouldn't wanna be my friends if i was a burden to them 

**unknown 13:37**

trust me, karl, they don't. you're just always around them that it gets difficult to tell you to fuck off. 

its like when nick was complaining about you on the train ride and brushed it off as a joke when you overheard. 

**karl >:) 13:39**

no,, sapnap just likes to joke around

how did you even know that? 

and even if that stuff was true, why are you telling me it? 

**unknown 13:40**

oh, you know. 

i just feel like ruining someones day. 

im sure you dont mind. 

**karl >:) 13:41**

whatever mr 

your dumb words arent getting to me anyways so go and be mean someplace else :( 

**you have been blocked by the recipient.**

okay, so karl lied. their words did have an affect on him, and their words only had an affect on him because those were all things that karl had thought before. he loves his friends, and he's sure that they love him too, he just cant help the occasional things that rush through his mind about whether or not they actually do. sapnap and him had a lot of fun yesterday, they wouldn't have hung out together like that if nick didn't want to, right? or maybe it was because george and dream weren't free, but that can't be it because sapnap had loads of other people to ask and he decided on karl anyways. 

what shitty human even wants to message someone for a reason like that? karl rests his head on the wall behind him, would it be rude to immediately think it to be a slytherin? but it also couldn't be. karl knows plenty nice slytherins, dream for one, though he did cheat on wilbur but there was also his sister, who was super scary but she was also really close friends with tommy and tubbo so drista couldn't be that mean right? or she could be, tommy and tubbo were scary when they wanted to be as well. 

talking about drista, karl swore he had just seen her race past him. there were loads of students that chilled out here during their break, and karl normally stayed around here with george or nick but they were both busy doing other things. dream and george were probably spending as much time as they could alone and sapnap had to stay behind and complete some work, or so he originally thought until he heard a familiar hearty laugh coming from the left of him. 

turns out, karl did see drista. she was currently talking to nick, who appeared out of nowhere. they seemed to be close, after all, dream and sapnap spent most of their childhood knowing each other so drista must have hung out with him on a couple occasions too. oh, yeah. karl averted his eyes from the two to stare up at a tree nearby. george, dream and sapnap basically grew up together. they probably even waited for each other to get their hogwarts letters and they most definitely experienced all of their years here together and counting. karl just happened to have gotten picked up by the trio and he was originally just nick's friend before he was introduced to the others. 

did they even want him there in the first place? karl always had niki and bad to talk to, though it'd be different when they both graduate. would he end up losing contact with everyone else when he graduates? there was no way dream, george and sapnap were going to stop talking, they've even met each other's parents and karl is pretty sure george messages dream's mum on a daily basis. he's heard about their family dinners they have together on sundays when they aren't at hogwarts. the three don't know anything about karl's parents, he knows shit about theirs. 

he turns his head back to where drista and nick were chatting, but not anymore. tommy and tubbo seemed to have taken sapnap's place and he was now nowhere to be seen. karl sighs and makes a decision to get up and go cry in the toilets. its better than crying in front of the entirety of hogwarts. his body's heavy when he's standing back on his own two feet. karl feels like falling and never getting back up. 

is he just annoying to all of his friends? was that mystery guy right? did he just want to tell karl the truth so he doesn't have to keep lying to himself? do people even want him here? karl for sure knows that he doesn't want to be here himself. his hands clench into fists as he continues to walk back inside. he doesn't seem to be looking to where he's going properly either because karl ends up bumping into someone and toppling over on top of them. 

"fuck," he mutters, rubbing his head as his vision starts to come back to him. karl looks up slightly to find himself laying on some slytherin. he's seen them before, he just can't place their name at the moment. maybe it was brain damage. 

they smirk up at him before asking if he was okay, and all karl can do is nod. 

"it's my fault really, i shouldn't be hanging around near the entrance for cute boys like you to go crashing into." 

karl blushes. what did he just say? "s-sorry," he chuckles, blinking a couple more times before finally registering the person as schlatt and oh fuck. he's beginning to scramble off him before he can even process it, shit, karl is really not looking to start trouble with the wrong people right now.

schlatt laughs as he watches him, "do you need a hand there, karl jacobs?" 

his hearts feels like its hammering in his head, but another hand beats schlatt to it. 

"i've got him." 

karl has never been happier to see sapnap. 

he quickly takes his hand and pushes himself up, and accidentally falls into nick's chest while he's at it. karl is so fucking clumsy today but sapnap isn't letting go of his hand and he finds a lot of comfort in that. 

"awh, how sweet." schlatt lifts himself up on his elbows, how he could look so attractive and not embarrassing whilst on the floor feels like a total crime to karl. "little nick sweeping in to protect his cute hufflepuff boyfriend." 

"oh, um, no we aren't--" 

"shut up, schlatt." sapnap interrupts karl, and it's kinda scary how angry he looks right now. was he irritated to be saving karl again? 

schlatt chuckles. "don't be like that, nick. i wasn't trying to steal him away, not like i couldn't or anything but--" 

sapnap snatches his hand away from karl's and pulls out his wand, stamping his foot onto schlatt's chest to fully push him back down to the ground before bending down and placing it near his throat, "why don't you stop acting like a little shit, huh? did mummy not hold you enough as a baby? is that it?" he asks, and schlatt doesn't look like he's joking around anymore after that.

karl tries to tell him to stop and leave it but he ignores him. 

"don't talk about my mum, nick. that's not cool." 

"you're so fucking annoying, do you know that?" sapnap replies and all schlatt can do is shrug and grin. his eyes then land on karl's which gives him an idea. schlatt shoots him a quick wink and that was enough to turn karl as red as a tomato. nick didn't like that. schlatt seems to have noticed, "is this because i laid my hands on your little boy toy? he's pretty, nick. i'd like to see him pushed up against a wall but he's not really my type."

sapnap doesn't say anything for a while and karl thinks that he's about to do something until he removes his foot from schlatt's chest and withdraws his wand. he turns back to karl and grabs his hand again. glad to know he wasn't the only one that wanted to leave before things got worse and a teacher had caught them. 

schlatt had gotten up again too, waving at a few passing students before leaving one last snarky comment. (famous last words.) 

"you should unblock me, karl jacobs. i'd love to talk to you again, especially after seeing how cute you are close up." 

sapnap's had enough. not even a second passes and he's turning back around, aiming his wand back to schlatt before he could even process it and yelling, "sectumsempra!" and karl feels his heart stop. he knows that spell. he's heard it all too many times before and the fact that nick knows it too scares him to pieces. 

he doesn't want to turn around. 

the sound of schlatt spluttering out his own blood was enough. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyways drink water today if you haven't


	15. its in your nature to destroy everything you touch.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> karl doesn't know how to feel anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> good morning/evening/night, how are you all? im feeling very pissed off rn so i will be taking that anger out in my writing ahsdash

**incoming message from sapnap**

**sapnap 1:45**

hey :) 

karl stares at the notification, he moves his finger over to it and holds it there for a few minutes. his mind fills with the memories of last week and he decides to shut his phone off for the night. 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**incoming message from sapnap**

**sapnap 12:18**

you been okay lately? 

hope you've had a nice lunch break. 

karl's phone pings for around the 500th time that day and its more messages from nick. he pushes the thought of replying to the back of his head and tucks his phone away into his pocket.

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**incoming message from sapnap**

**sapnap 16:59**

hey i miss you. 

please stop ignoring me. i just wanna know if you're alright. 

george says hi 

karl's tempted to throw his phone out the window,, because he misses him too. 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**incoming message from sapnap**

**sapnap 5:23**

hey. you dont have to reply this time, although i wouldnt mind if you did but i cant sleep and i want to but the only thing i really feel like doing is talking to you. 

i know you're probably sleeping so have a good night, karl. sleep well. 

karl brushes his thumb softly against his phone screen. he wonders if schlatt is recovering alright. 

he wonders how long he can go without running back to nick. 

apparently not long though. 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**incoming message from sapnap**

**sapnap 19:12**

im missing you so much that i accidentally poured in milk before cereal. 

you wouldn't let me get this bad without you right, karl? haha,,

have a good night tho 

karl blinks at his screen. fuck. 

**incoming message from karl**

**karl 19:15**

you're tragic. 

eating cereal at 7pm and pouring milk first? 

**sapnap 19:16**

holy shit hi 

and i know. its really sad of me. 

i have a lot of questions to ask but how have you been?? 

**karl 19:18**

not great, nick. 

can you stop messaging me? 

**sapnap 19:18**

no 

but i mean, if you really want me to stop, i will. 

**karl 19:19**

nick, why are you acting like nothing happened? 

**sapnap 19:20**

why are you acting like i actually killed him? 

come on karl, we both know he fucking deserved it. 

**karl 19:21**

what the fuck is wrong with you, sapnap? 

nobody deserves to be hit with a spell like that and the fact that you knew it isn't great either. 

**sapnap 19:24**

you seem to be familiar with the spell yourself, karl. 

**karl 19:24**

i've read books and stuff 

but thats not the point! 

hogwarts must have really gone to fucking shit to let you stay here. you and schlatt are exactly the same and you're just denying it. 

**sapnap 19:30**

you're wrong, karl. 

shut up. 

**karl 19:31**

you just dont want to fucking hear it because its so true

you are so unbelievably lucky that the professors dealt with it and that nobody remembers it even happening due to some dumb spell cast on them. 

and you know what? im so fucking glad to still know what you did because it was horrible. 

i am terrified of you, sapnap. 

**sapnap 19:37**

what? 

**karl 19:38**

you aren't who i thought you were.

**sapnap 19:38**

wait no i am

i am the person you thought i am, karl. 

please talk to me and let me explain 

dont hate me 

please. 

please karl

karl decides he's going to switch his phone off, but he hesitates. his thumb hovers over to the call button next to sapnap's contact info for about 14 seconds before pressing it. it was like he had a weakness for him and it bothered the shit out of karl. 

sapnap accepts it within a matter of seconds. 

"karl, hi." he's the first to speak and karl can't help but notice how softly it was spoken. nick really did miss him and it was apparent in just his voice alone. 2 weeks without your best friend does some things to a man. 

karl brings his phone up to his ear, replying with a quiet, "hello." 

"do you hate me?" sapnap asks. his breathing is heavy but he says it in a way that matches karl's tone. 

he shuffles in his seat, beginning to fiddle with his tie. "that isn't the point, nick." he mumbles. 

"no, i know. im sorry. i was just really riled up and i just didn't like what he was saying about you at the time." 

"why? it wasn't directed at you, why get mad?" 

nick doesn't respond for a while and it feels like hours that karl is just sitting there waiting for at least a single sentence to come out. he bites his lip. everything that happened after schlatt had collapsed in a pool of his own blood was a bit blurry to karl but he can still remember his thoughts and sapnap standing there in shock next to him. his eyes were widened when karl had decided to look over to him and nick seemed scared shitless. a teacher had come when some students ran off to report it and thats when sapnap had began to walk away, hands in his pockets like nothing had happened. karl made up his mind then that he'd rather stay and help schlatt than go and be with someone who would walk away from their messes for others to clean up. 

after a moment, nick speaks. 

"i did it for you." 

his grip loosens on his tie. "what?" 

"well, mainly you but all the shit he did to dream and his sister kinda fuelled my mind as well." sapnap explains. karl doesn't really know what to think after that. maybe he'd give in and forgive him if he didn't already have a past with the stupid fucking sectumsempra spell. he had seen way too much way too young and he just recently figured out he wasn't ready to relive those moments of his life just yet. 

karl clears his throat, "okay, i- i get the dream one but mainly me?" 

"i dont know, i just--" 

and he almost goes hysterical after that. "you dont know? just tell me, sapnap. was it because you were being a good friend? was it out of pettiness? or- or jealousy?" the last suggestion feels like a forbidden language to karl, he and nick had only ever been friendly with each other until a while ago but the things schlatt had said to piss sapnap off were a bit explicit in some ways and they seemed to work. 

"it's supposed to be common, right?" nick says and karl thinks he might be going crazy because what? "the best friends to lovers trope." 

oh. 

karl scratches the back of his neck and gulps a bit too loud, was it getting hot in here? 

"s-so what? you hurt someone because of love or- or--," 

"yeah." sapnap sighs. 

he takes in a deep breath. "thats not-" karl stops himself. "its not--" he stops again. fuck. he isn't sure what to respond with. his emotions were running wild and he couldn't settle on running over to the gryffindor common room and kissing sapnap or slapping him. 

nick laughs nervously through the other end, "do you hate me now?" 

"no, but- but you can't just say that." 

"its the truth." 

"so? do you think that saying that you nearly murdered someone and risked your final years here for me would make me feel any fucking better? if anything, i feel worse." karl says, clutching tighter onto his phone. it was out of anger, mostly, but some of it was desperation for nick to keep pushing. 

"i just want us to get back to normal, karl. i don't care if we aren't holding hands and being sappy with each other. i miss you. just. just come back to me." sapnap's voice cracks during the last sentence.

karl thinks he's at his breaking point. "you're driving me mad and thats not what loves supposed to do." 

"you're driving me mad right now, karl." nick says, "and that's exactly what love is supposed to do." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> drink some water today >:[


	16. they think we're in heaven but we're living in hell.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> karl cries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> felt cute might delete later

it had been a couple days since karl and nick's last conversation. sapnap had thought best to leave it after karl had ended the call so abruptly. it wasn't great though, the past week without his friend was different. he had to endure dream and george's gross pda alone whilst also receiving slaps on the back from people he didn't even know because of what he did to schlatt. he had felt prideful for the first couple of days but then the only thing that really clouded his mind was karl and despite the amount of praise he was achieving from everyone else, karl's judgement was the only one that mattered to him and well, he was also the one person that believed that what nick did was horrible. 

his mind wasn't even that occupied on the fact that he had probably chased the only boy he's ever loved away, i mean, it was but sapnap always scrolled through their messages to focus on a particular thing karl had said to him that was brushed past originally. 

'i am terrified of you, sapnap.'

the way nick imagined that was conveyed whilst karl typed it out made his stomach churn. it wasn't just something specific he was terrified of, karl was terrified of sapnap as a whole and that wasn't what he had intended to happen. nick would never want karl to feel that way about him. the years he had spent building a sense of comfort and warmth for him was immediately thrown out the window after he had told him that. 

apart from dream and george, karl was the only person that sapnap didn't want to hurt and he ended up doing exactly that thinking that he was protecting him. fuck, he's so stupid. 

but the next thought that crossed his mind scared the hell out of him. 

nick ran his hand through his hair, gripping at it. maybe karl was right to be terrified of sapnap because even he doesn't know who he is anymore. he should have killed him? is that really the solution he's come up with? did he intend to kill him in the first place, if the professor didn't come and help, would he have actually murdered schlatt in cold blood? no. sapnap would never have let it come to that so why, god why, did he wish he was dead right now? it wouldn't have made things better, hell, it would've made things a hundred times worse and karl would probably never want to breathe the same air as him again if things turned out like that. 

shit. karl really did drive him mad. 

sapnap had been hiding up in the gryffindor dorm as everyone else went to their first classes, he didn't feel like attending them today and dream already said he'd tell him what he missed after. nick just couldn't go another day with karl purposefully avoiding him because fuck did it hurt. 

he had mainly been half-assedly reading through books and scrolling through photos on his phone to pass the time until their was a soft knock on his door. at first, nick thought he was probably imagining things because he was pretty sure he was the only gryffindor skipping classes, unless tommy's decided to join him like usual. they never really got along but he's somehow become sapnap's annoying little brother, but he guesses that tommy just has that effect on people. 

"you shouldn't really be missing out on classes you know, tommy?" nick calls out from the other side of the door as he makes his way to open it, "i mean, i know i am but--karl?" 

now that was the last person sapnap was expecting to see. 

karl was outside his door. karl and his pretty, messy brown hair and eyebags that didn't seem to be doing him any favours and tear stained cheeks, and sapnap could almost feel his heart break at the sight. shit, what had he done to him? 

they stare at each other for a minute before karl makes the first move and slaps him right across the face. nick's eyebrows furrowed at the action and he was about to yell at him because what the fuck? but then a pair of warm lips had clashed with his and everything seemed to be okay. 

karl brought his hands back up to cup sapnap's cheeks, having pushed him against the door due to the aggressiveness of it all. nick roughly grabbed karl's waist in return and diverted them from the entrance to a nearby bed so he could sit him down gently, disconnecting the two. karl kept his eyes on sapnaps as he began to focus on steadying his breathing, chest heaving. nick stared down at him and gulped. 

"what are you doing here, karl?" he says, and as much as sapnap would love to start kissing the hell out of him again, he knew it wouldn't be right to take advantage of the boy while he was in this state. 

"i just-" karl grips at the bedsheet beneath him, knuckles turning white, "i just wanted to see you and, and george said you weren't coming to alchemy so i came here and i--" 

sapnap laughed, and karl looked back up at him in confusion. nick drew his hands across his face "jesus," he breathed out, "what the hell are you doing to me, jacobs?" he makes his way to sit down on the bed next to him, "sometimes i feel like i understand you and then you go and pull shit like this." 

karl frowns, "oh," he mumbles a small sorry but sapnap shook his head, "don't apologise for that - god, never apologise for kissing me, karl - i just wasn't expecting it, is all." he reassures him and he smiles softly in response. 

the two sit in silence for a moment or two before karl speaks up again, "did you mean it?" 

nick turns to look at him, "what?" 

"when you said i was driving you mad." 

sapnap raises an eyebrow, taking a while to recall and then making a knowing face. he smiles. "yes." 

karl looks back at him for a second before blinking his eyes away to his lap, "okay." 

"so are we--"

"do you still think he deserved it, nick?" karl interrupts and sapnap releases an annoyed sigh. 

"you know what, karl? i know for a fact that he deserved it and i'm not even fucking sorry." nick says, getting back up to his feet, "the only thing i am sorry for is that you don't realise it too." 

karl springs back up on his feet as well, grabbing onto sapnap's wrist before he could walk away from him. "how can you say that?" sapnap snatches his wrist away and shrugs, "did you come here because you wanted to see me or did you just want to make me feel guilty again?" he asks, and karl blinks up at him in disbelief, "look, i have been racking my brain for the past fucking week because of you and my god, is it tiring to want to live up to your standards." 

"fuck you, nick." karl mutters, roughly wiping a single tear he had let escape with his sleeve before making his way to leave but this time, nick grabs onto his wrist to pull him back up against his chest, refusing to let go no matter how hard karl pushed him away. 

"yeah, thats it karl." he says, tone harsh, "fuck everything, yeah? fuck everyone." his eyes settle on karl's hurt expression and something finally clicked in his mind. 

nick releases his grip, "except me." he adds softly, and karl seemed to have stopped struggling after that. he didn't really realise that sapnap had been hurting as much as him, if not more, until now. the broken look on his face said it all. he'd lost control of himself. 

karl wasn't sure what to do but wrap his arms around his shoulders and pull him down for another kiss. it was short and sweeter than the other one but it was what they both needed right now, and nick needed karl more than ever. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> water is so pog, you should drink some <3


	17. thats what love feels like

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dream and george are having problems of their own

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!!   
> im trying to update more frequently :]

**incoming message from clay**

**clay 12:18**

hey 

have u seen bad? skeppy's looking for him 

**george 12:19**

wow at least someones boyfriend wants to be with him 

but no, i havent. 

**clay 12:19**

why are you so fucking pissy george 

**george 12:20**

you blew me off to hang out with wilbur. 

**clay 12:21**

so? 

**george 12:21**

your ex boyfriend wilbur. 

don't you think i'd be a bit upset to not even find that out from you but from your fucking sister??

you guys have been hanging out together a lot recently. 

**clay 12:23**

we were going over strategies for the next quidditch match, george. 

**george 12:23**

cool, was that before or after you guys finished making out? 

**clay 12:24**

jealousy really isn't a great colour on you. 

i cant just avoid him. we were talking. thats it. 

**george 12:25**

shouldn't you guys be going over 'quidditch strategies' with the whole team? 

**clay 12:26**

yeah, we should have been and actually, wilbur did discuss it with the team but instead of attending that practice, i missed it to see you. 

**george 12:28**

oh 

**clay 12:29**

yeah. oh. 

have some fucking faith in me, george. you're the one i left him for, not the other way around. 

**george 12:31**

im sorry 

i do trust you, its just that it kinda bugs me that i barely get to see you anymore. 

**clay 12:31**

i know but i dont think i have anything planned tonight if you wanna talk 

and maybe kiss too idk just saying 

**george 12:34**

that sounds really nice clay 

**clay 12:34**

good :)

i love you, george. 

**george 12:35**

shut up 

**clay 12:35**

see you 2nite ;) 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

dream thinks him and george have hit a rough patch. 

they had only been dating for a couple of weeks and the honeymoon phase was already over and done with. clay didn't expect their banter to turn into pointless arguments this quickly, and sure relationships had their difficulties but this was all too new and overwhelming for dream. for one, him and george never fought like how they do now and clay has to walk on eggshells not to push him away with one dumb mistake. maybe he'd know of better ways to get themselves out of this never-ending loophole of screaming and crying if he'd had experience from wilbur. the thing is, wilbur and him barely ever fought. they were dumb kids sure, but they were also really mature. the only bad arguments they've had that dream could recall were only recently but now he didn't have to deal with that because he had george. 

it could be anything to set the two off, and dream thinks its because they aren't used to being like this with each other but really it's just because they're both that terrified of screwing things up that they end up worrying too much about the smallest details. they didn't really spend much time with other people as the fighting progressed, and their friends probably figured they were hiding away in a broom closet, making out or something, but it was most likely the opposite. george had resulted to studying to take his mind off everything going on around him and clay's been going to every single quidditch practice he could. the time they did spend together, they spent either sitting in silence or yelling. 

like now, george was hesitating on whether or not he should scoot closer to dream as they sat down in front of the fireplace. the slytherin common room always had a sort of cold atmosphere surrounding it and most of the time, george would prefer to hang out somewhere else but clay's presence was enough to brighten it up. george used to wonder why dream was even a slytherin in the first place until he had experienced how fucking terrifying he could be when he was angry. george forgets that dream's only nice to people he likes being around or only when he wants to be, and it shows a lot during his quidditch matches. 

it was weird every time george was in clays common room, the ravenclaw one was usually so packed but it was nearly always empty here. maybe if the couple had company apart from themselves, they wouldn't break out into fighting. 

dream had been focused on george the second he had sat down with him, an awkward several inches away. he only smiled when george had turned to look back at him, clay couldn't build up the courage to say how pretty he was when asked why he had been staring at him, he just shrugged like a fucking idiot. george raised his eyebrow before mumbling a small "okay then," and going back to staring at the fireplace. 

clay wants to bang his head against a wall. when did things change so much between them? 

he bites his lip, thinking of what to say. 'what's a good way to start a conversation? come on, dream.' 

"so, how are classes going?" he asks, and wow clay. well done! you sound like every single old person ever. george turns and blinks up at him, "you should know, clay. you're in most of them." 

"yeah but like how about astronomy and stuff?" 

george lets out a small, sarcastic laugh. "nice to know you're listening whenever i talk about what subjects im taking." 

clay sighs, "im trying my hardest, george." 

"and you think im not?" he replies, "i wanna see you every day clay, but every time i do see you it's like we're complete fucking strangers." 

dream doesn't say anything to retaliate. george wasn't wrong so he couldn't think of anything to say to make things seem better than they were. they just fall into an uncomfortable silence again. 

clay clenches his jaw. his eyes linger on george for a while longer before turning away. fuck.

his gaze fixates on the dancing flames in front of them, the amount of heat hitting his skin was starting to irritate him but dream decided to ignore it. 

after a moment, he finally speaks, "would you still love me if i was a death eater now, george?" and clay could swore he almost saw a smile form on george's face from his peripheral vision.

"im not answering that." 

clay lays his head back onto the couch behind him, staring up at the shadows the fire formed on the ceiling, "do you even love me, george?" he asks and from the quiet he's met with, dream thinks he won't get a reply. george wants to say yes right away, with no hesitation whatsoever because dear god did he love the boy next to him but he didn't want to give clay that power over him. he wasn't ready to admit it to him yet. 

he releases a small breath, "if this is what love feels like then yeah, sure." 

dream lifted his head up and put his focus back onto george, "what the fuck is that supposed to mean?" 

"well, i didnt really sign up for boring night outs like this when you made the decision to kiss me, clay." 

he scoffs, "maybe i'll start wanting to take you somewhere nicer again if you stop thinking im eye fucking every person i god damn look at." 

george's eyebrows furrow, "i don't think that, clay." 

"i can see it in your face, george." dream says, "do you not trust me?" 

"of course i fucking trust you! you just don't understand." george pushes himself back onto his feet. 

clay looks up at him, "so help me understand." 

george parts his lips slightly to reply but words escape him. he grabs his robe from the couch and slips it on. 

dream watches him, "are you leaving?" 

"yes." 

"why?" 

george continues to fix his uniform, not giving clay an answer until he's done straightening out his tie, "i don't think you know how to love anything." he says, "not properly, anyways." 

clay doesn't react. he refuses to react, but there's only so much he can hold in. george's eyes follow him as he rises from the floor to meet with him face to face. 

"you don't get to say that to me." 

george can feel how hard dream's staring down at him. his eyes fall to clay's chest. 

"why?" he says quietly. 

"because you have no idea how exhausting it is to fucking love you." dream answers him. 

georges head droops to the floor, "what-" he gulps, "what does that mean?" he asks. 

"it means what i meant, george." 

dream thinks hes gone and done it now because neither of them want to continue this conversation, he knows it by the way george is refusing to look him in the eye alone. if he could, maybe he'd take it back but fuck was it tiring. clay's trying to give this relationship his all and george keeps pushing him away and he doesn't know why so its fucking difficult. he wishes that things were easy for them, like they used to be. he wishes that he can just say he loves him and that george could say it back just as easily and dream wishes he could take george in his arms right now. he doesn't want to be like this anymore but he's so completely helpless when it comes to the boy in front of him. 

he reaches out to touch george's hand but ends up being shrugged off. there isn't much he can do when george is the one who doesn't want to try solve things but what dream doesn't understand is that several worries are racing through george's mind too. 

george knows dream loves him, he's just scared that maybe he'll end up being another wilbur to him when the right person comes. what is it people say? 'once a cheat, always a cheat.' right? and george wants to trust clay but its hard when everyone else keeps telling him that dream's gonna fuck him over. 

"clay--" 

he's cut off by the familiar ring of dream's phone. george lifts his head to stare at him, his phone in his hands. please don't take it, he thinks. 

"who is it?" please hang up, dream. 

clay coughs, "um," he takes a glance at george before flicking his eyes back to his screen, "its uh, its actually wil--" 

george clenches his fists, he doesn't want to hear clay finish that sentence. "are you kidding me? do you guys just randomly call each other now?" 

"i wasn't going to pick up." 

"is that because im here or because you actually weren't going to?" 

dream doesn't answer.

george knows why the moment he looks at his expression. he laughs. "cool, bye then." 

he takes a deep breath after turning away, his face immediately falling. george hates getting easily insecure. he gets that dream and wilbur were old news but not a day goes by where people don't remind him of how nice they were together. he fucking knows how nice they were together, he had to watch them for 2 years. he had to watch them kiss after a long day of not seeing each other while eating dinner in the great hall, he had to watch them as dream's world started revolving around nobody but wilbur. he had to smile and act like he was happy all the while wanting to be with clay instead, and now he was with clay but it's like the universe was against that. 

george reaches the exit when dream finally runs up to him and grabs his wrist. he shakes it off. he doesn't feel like pretending that dream wasn't going to lie for 5 minutes straight on how he's 'so over wilbur.' 

"please look at me, george." 

he doesn't want to look at him, "just let me go, clay." 

"not until you look at me." 

george doesn't think he gets it. 

"i mean let me go completely, dream." 

dream's breath hitches, and his eyes widen slightly. surely george doesn't mean that, right? all he can do is stand there as george turns the doorknob and he's half out the door when clay decides against it. he pulls george's arm until he's fully back in, door slamming shut with a small spell dream used with his wand before putting it away again. 

george's face is covered in tears. he lets dream take his hand to try and wipe some away gently. 

"you're nothing like wilbur, george." clay tells him, george sniffs in response. dream continues, "i have never loved wilbur as much as i love you, and i would want to leave right now too but you're just different, george. i want this to work, why can't this work?" he bites his lip, "what do you want, george?" 

its george's turn not to answer. he just stares up at him, brows furrowed, almost like reading his expression would be enough for dream to understand and it was probably more than enough. 

dream caressed george's cheek, "i don't deserve you." he says and george gives him a weak smile. 

"i really love you, you know?" george nods, "i love you to death." clay adds, placing a small kiss on his forehead, "its just you and me, george. fuck everyone else." 

"how can i believe that when you're spending more time with your ex boyfriend than me?" 

"i have to see him everyday, george. we're in the same house, he's my quidditch captain. i can't just avoid him." 

george scoffs, "what happened to fuck everyone else?" 

dream frowns, "oh come on." 

"what if we just had a day to ourselves? like without classes and stuff?" george suggests, he thinks they need that right now. 

"i dont know, george. i cant really afford to miss out on quidditch practice." 

wow. cool so 'its just you and me' but then clay would rather spend his time in a sweaty locker room than with his boyfriend who he hasn't properly been with in a week. george was getting really fucking annoyed, especially since he couldn't even count all the times dream skipped lessons to be with wilbur. jesus, he didn't even want a future career in quidditch. if anything, george should be his future, but he's had enough at this point. 

"god, dream. get your priorities straight." 

"wh--" 

"it should make a difference when someone loves you, shouldn't it?" george asks, and he waits for clay to respond. he waits for clay to crumble apart like george always fucking did every time they fought like this. he waits for clay to give in and kiss him, for clay to kiss him with everything he had. george waited for nothing.

he laughs. "but that doesn't matter, right? because im dating _the_ clay! and oh my god, you're so cool! your smiles just so cute and you're just so tall!" he mocks, he's deliberately trying to pull a reaction out of dream at this point. still nothing. 

all he could do was give him a pained smile before leaving the common room. that place was filled with so many bad memories of them. 

dream gave himself a few minutes to take in some deep breaths as he watched george leave, his fists clenched, eyes focusing on nothing but the floor. 

everything that happened after that was beyond him. clay couldn't control a lot when he wasn't feeling a hundred percent. his wand had suddenly been pulled out, the whole room falling apart with a quick slash movement, a couple cuss words being yelled out with it. fuck. 

he drew his wand back and marvelled at the wreck his common room had turned into. whatever. dream ignores it and walks out. 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

**incoming message from punz**

**punz 19:23**

hey. 

you free? 

**clay 19:24**

no. busy. 

why? 

**punz 19:26**

its important. 

meet at astronomy tower in 10. 

**clay 19:27**

i said i was busy.

**punz 19:27**

and i said it was important. 

seriously, dream. 

**clay 19:28**

okay. 

i'll be there in 20. 

**punz 19:31**

fine. as long as you're coming. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> reminder to drink some water today <3


	18. we consume what we need and then we leave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> schlatt's okay but dream isn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> theres some violence (?) maybe in this chapter but its not like graphic, just like punching and shit so yeah  
> anyways heres another update :D

**incoming message from clay**

**clay 19:57**

doors locked. 

**punz 19:58**

use your wand, dipshit 

**clay 19:58**

didnt bring it with me 

**punz 19:59**

why?? 

**clay 20:00**

i broke it lol 

**punz 20:00**

jesus, okay. give me a second. 

dream tucked his phone away into his pocket, watching as the door handle was pulled down and enter punz with his usual white hoodie and black jeans. clay rarely saw him wandering around hogwarts, they never had the same classes and he never showed up to the great hall to eat with the rest of the slytherins. seeing punz was like a once in a lifetime experience for most people. 

he flashed dream his usual smile and opened the door further so he could walk in, and god how he wished he just turned back and left the moment his eyes went from punz and fell onto schlatt. when the hell did he recover anyways? clay thought sapnap did more damage than a weeks worth. 

"you've looked better, clay." schlatt says, hands dug into his jeans. dream gives him a sarcastic laugh, "haha, yeah. you still coughing up blood when you talk or,,?" 

schlatt smiles. "im not looking for rebuttals, clay. just to talk." 

dream doesn't like the sound of that. he glances over to punz who just gives a half-assed grin before leaving and closing the door behind him. the lock clicks.

no way was clay locked in the fucking astronomy tower with schlatt of all people. 

schlatt walks over to the other side of the room, choosing to ignore dream for a couple minutes and to admire the room instead. it was quite a beautiful place, and quiet too. he hums a small tune, swiping a finger on the wall to examine the dust left on it. schlatt turns back around on his heels, eyes falling back onto dreams. 

"so, your parents." he says, "is your father the muggle?" 

clay glares at him, balling his fists hard enough that his fingernails started digging into the palms. "no. my mother is." he replies and schlatt just nods like it was some out of the world fact. 

"your father then, did he go here?" 

dream clenches his jaw. "yes." 

"a slytherin?" 

another yes. 

schlatt smirks, "good, good." 

"why the questions?" 

"you know, clay," of course schlatt decides to brush off his question and start going on about his own thing. the twat. "some very powerful wizards have come from slytherin." 

"obviously." 

he chuckles, "yes, obviously." schlatt repeats, leaning his body against the wall, "but what about it? power? does that appeal to you, dream?" 

"n--" 

"funny nickname though. _dream_. why do people call you that? its interesting. what's wrong with clay? don't like it or something?" schlatt asks, and clay opens his mouth to reply but is once again cut off, "i quite like it. they're good things to use to hide your identity with, nicknames and such. i like nicknames, but i like dream especially. just sends a shiver down my spine. the oh, so amazing, dream! doesn't that sound cool?" 

dream isn't sure where this conversation is going and he's worried. maybe he should have brought his wand with him instead of fucking snapping it in half out of anger but he decides to play along for the meanwhile. 

"yeah, i guess." 

"i can see that name in newspapers, you know?" schlatt continues, laughing, "ah, fame. a funny thing. you know what would be better? if _dream_ struck fear in people. just one mention of the name and people are quivering! sounds nice, right? dream, dream, dream. i could say it all day!" 

"right." 

schlatt sighs, brushing a hand through his hair. "why don't you come closer, dream? i'm gonna call you that from now on." 

clay bites his lip. none of this sits nicely with him but he ends up complying. schlatt gestures for him to take more steps forward, so he does just that. they're less than a metre away from each other. 

"such a handsome face, dream. george is quite lucky." 

dream laughs and shakes his head, "no, i wouldn't think so." 

schlatt tilts his head, "no? shame. im sure he wouldn't mind then." 

"what?--" 

he looks up slightly to then be met with a surprised fist to the face. dream stumbles back. it stings. 

"what the fuck?" he calls out and schlatt pouts, "come on, im sure you can take more than that. besides," he grins, walking back up to clay, "this is your apology for ruining my plans with george." schlatt knees him in the stomach and dream topples over, coughing. "fighting like men do, without wands or that dumb magic crap. authentic, right?" schlatt says, moving over to grab his face in his hand. 

he hums. "such a clean, pretty f-" schlatt knees him in the stomach again, "-ace." he smiles, watching curiously as dream splutters out blood. clay's finding it harder to breathe, and it's apparent when he ends up falling onto his knees while clutching onto his stomach, blood dripping from the side of his mouth. schlatt stares down at him in pity, "not gonna fight back? but you seemed so confident." 

clay laughs, "believe me, schl-" he coughs, "-lat, its like you aren't even trying to hurt me." 

schlatt smirks, swiping his foot across dreams face to press it down to the floor, "you're a big talker, dream. you should really fucking shut up once in a while." he tells him, removing his foot from his face to start kicking into his stomach continuously. 

dream thinks hes gonna pass out. 

"had enough yet?" schlatt asks, bending down. clay looks fucking gone. he softly tilts his chin up and smiles, "i admire your tolerance, dream." schlatt drops his head back, getting up and wiping his hands with a handkerchief, "but know your place, yeah?" 

dream grumbled. his vision was blurry. everything seemed to start going slower for him and the last thing he saw was a pair of footsteps walking into the room and schlatt saying something about 'taking him away.' 

he ended up blacking out after that. 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

**incoming message from george**

**george 21:45**

im sorry for today, i dont know what came over me 

can we pretend it never happened? 

clay? 

are you still upset? please talk to me. i know you dont sleep this early. 

please dont ignore me

clay please. 

i know you love me, and im sorry for making it hard for you to 

please reply to me

clay, i love you too 

please. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> drink some water today!!


	19. some things are quite hard to let go of.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dreams gone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!!  
> heres another update :]

**incoming message from george**

**george 9:13**

hey, have you seen clay?? 

you guys have a quidditch match right? 

**techno 9:14**

why would i know where my opponent is? ask wilbur. 

**george 9:14**

i havent seen him all day 

do you think hes okay? 

**techno 9:14**

maybe he's getting ready lol 

totally gonna kick his ass though, dont care if hes your boyfriend. 

**george 9:16**

techno :[ 

**techno 9:17**

all is fair in love and war. 

also he broke my best friends heart, im kicking his ass no matter what. 

**george 9:18**

fair enough,,

tell me if you see him? 

**techno 9:18**

like i said, ask wilbur. 

you better be cheering for ravenclaw today. 

**george 9:20**

duh!! 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**incoming message from george**

**george 9:23**

have you seen clay? 

**wilbur 9:23**

is clay with you? 

wait what 

**george 9:24**

you dont know where he is?? 

**wilbur 9:24**

he isnt with you? 

okay, now this is just getting worrying. 

have you not seen him at all? 

**george 9:26**

no, thats why im asking you. 

you must have seen him in the morning, right? 

**wilbur 9:27**

no, he didn't come back to the common room after going to see punz

**george 9:28**

when did he go and see punz? 

**wilbur 9:30**

i passed him in the halls at like 7pm last night, didnt see him since. 

i thought he would be with you. we have a match in 30 fucking minutes. 

**george 9:32**

he hasnt shown up to the locker rooms? 

**wilbur 9:33**

no and neither has schlatt. he was discharged from the hospital yesterday. i understand if he still isn't ready to play quidditch again but i havent seen him at all either. 

**george 9:34**

do you have backup players? 

**wilbur 9:34**

yeah. 

i have a feeling we wont win this one though. 

**george 9:35**

dont say that, you still have good players. 

**wilbur 9:36**

yeah sure, but the main focus is normally on dream and schlatt. 

my backs gonna get tired from carrying everyone this round 

**george 9:38**

you cant say that when drista's still there. 

oh fuck. 

drista

**wilbur 9:40**

okay. so. 

lets not tell drista her brothers missing for the meanwhile

**george 9:41**

clay isnt 'missing' missing. 

maybe he just wants to surprise everyone 

**wilbur 9:41**

sure. 

lets hope so, but this isnt like clay. 

**george 9:43**

you think i dont know that? 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

wilbur grips his phone tightly in his hand, typing out a quick 'sorry' to george before slipping it back into his robes. they had 15 minutes. 15 minutes until the barriers rose and they all had to face ravenclaw in the quidditch field and clay still wasn't here. everyone would begin to ask questions soon and wilbur has no idea how to answer any of them. he bites his lip. 

dream's gonna be here soon, he thinks. 

drista looked over his way then, and wilbur's eyes immediately divert her gaze. god, please no. he's not ready to face his sister and tell her that he'd lost him. she's walking up to him now, a big smile on her face as she taps on his shoulder. 

"nervous, soot?" she asks, grinning, and wilbur laughs nervously, "where's that usual determined look?" 

he looks back at her, drista was right. where is his usual determined look? nobody would start worrying until they realise their captain looks scared as shit. 

wilbur plasters a smile, "i haven't gotten a lot of sleep," he chuckles, "silly me, right?" drista nods, swiping a lock of her hair behind her ear before turning her head the other way. wilbur thinks she's about to leave but then she frowns and looks him straight in the eye again, "dream's normally late but not this late." drista says, and wilbur's face drops. his throat feels like its closing up. shit, come on. pull it together, will. 

drista tilts her head, "it's just weird so i thought i would mention it." she adds, "he's probably messing around with sapnap and george before the match though. clay hasn't been acting like himself recently so maybe he's just taking some time to get his mind off things." drista suggests and wilbur sheepishly nods, but then she began to get suspicious. drista has had to hang around wilbur for 2 years when him and her brother began dating so she had will's mannerisms noted down, you could imagine it was odd when his whole vibe started changing up. 

she blinks up at him, "where is he, wilbur?" she asks, and wilbur's eyes widen slightly before averting to the floor. drista wasn't expecting a reaction like that. it was strange. nobody would have reacted like that if they didn't know something was wrong. she sucks in a breath, "you don't know either, do you?" 

he doesn't respond. drista takes a step back. "he didn't go to breakfast either but i thought he was just sleeping in. was he even in the dorms, wilbur?" curse drista for her people reading abilities, jesus fucking christ. wilbur was about to die on the spot. he can't even bring himself to look at her expression right now. people were beginning to stare at the two.

"to be honest, i haven't seen dream since yesterday afternoon." someone said, and not helping. 

"he wasn't in bed when i woke up." someone else added. 

wilbur's face clouded with guilt. as their senior and captain, he always made it his job to take care of everyone. drista refuses to move. 

"when you were sick last year, who missed quidditch finals to take care of you?" she asks, "we lost that game because clay wasn't there." drista grips onto the sleeve of wilbur's sweater, "why are you here if you know somethings wrong with him?" 

"drista, it wasn't my fault that he--" 

she slaps him across the face. 

"you stupid bastard!" drista yells at him, "look at me. fucking look at me." and wilbur does, his hand on his cheek. drista furrows her eyebrows, "you fucking find him, you fucking find my brother." she says. "dris, i--" 

"shut the fuck up."

wilbur clenches his fists as he watches her quickly swipe away a tear, "he's all i've got. nobody loves him like i do." drista mumbles, and wilbur pulls her into a hug. he couldn't say anything to make her feel better. all he could do now was ask to cancel the match and look for him. 

they broke apart. drista pulls out a phone and pushes it into wilbur's chest, "look through that and tell me that nothing's wrong." she says, turning around and leaving. everyone's eyes following her. wilbur takes in a deep breath before looking down at the phone and immediately recognising the wallpaper. it was clays. why did drista have his phone? 

he unlocks it. the password was his cats birthday, always has been.

it opens to the 'notes' app. wilbur's eyes widen. the same words were typed out a hundred times over. his chest felt tight. his thumb kept scrolling down, speeding up every second.

how many times did clay write this out? what the hell.

everyone began to crowd around him in the meantime, all sharing the same concern for dream the more wilbur scrolled. 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

_notes 18:57 'i love him'_

**i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love 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him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love 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him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love 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him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love 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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember to drink some water today <3


	20. why be happy when you can be in love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dream wakes up in an unfamiliar place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!!   
> this story was meant to be lighthearted but i was always one for angst.

dream's eyes slowly blink open. the air surrounding him is cold. colder than usual. he shivers, nose scrunching up. everywhere hurts. 

someone's leaning over him.

"you awake, sleepyhead?"

clay promptly blacks out again. 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

dream feels something smack his face repeatedly. he grumbles. his vision is still completely fucked, or maybe he had just been out for so long that his eyes forgot how to function. 

"wake the fuck up." 

he feels his upper body being lifted against a wall. was he in a bed? it was warmer than before. 

"leave him alone, schlatt. you've messed him up already."

that's weird. dream's never heard that voice before. it was comforting. dream wants them to speak again. 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

dream wakes up. 

it's dark outside. he rubs his eyes. the interior was way different from the slytherin dormitory. where is he? 

"oh, hello!" his head snaps towards the direction of the voice. dream starts to blink repeatedly, was he seeing things or did this person have the ears of an animal? they were pretty. 

he reaches out to him and dream flinches, he laughs, "i won't hurt you." he says softly. his hand begins to stroke his face, and dream, although wanting to tear them off, felt calm for the first time in a while. 

"you can call me fundy." the boy smiles, and clay nods. "i've been watching you sleep for a while. who's george?" 

dream had a habit for mumbling in his sleep. he hates it sometimes. he shakes the question off, "where am i?" his voice is hoarse. 

"right! sorry, i should probably explain a few things to you." fundy replies, scratching the back of his neck, "uh, so currently we're in schlatt's house but i dont know if you could call it a house, its like a fucking castle and uh, basically, punz brought you here to help us out." 

clay takes some time to process what fundy said. he's confused for the most of it. his mind just focuses on the first thing that pops in his mind that makes sense to him. george. dream shuffles around for a bit, and fundy watches curiously. he turns back to him, "where's my phone?" 

"schlatt left it on your sisters bedside table."

"what?" 

fundy frowns, "he just didn't want you to contact anyone while being here, but its okay. we'll take care of you!" 

dream tilts his head, "we'll?" 

the boy nods, "yeah! me, schlatt, punz and everyone else." 

"okay. why am i here again?" 

"who's asking all the questions now, dream?" 

clay sits up immediately when hearing schlatt, his hand twitching. his eyes wonder all around the room until they land on his. schlatt's leaning against the door, the usual smirk on his face with his arms crossed. "feeling okay?" 

dream's eyes widen. he actually is feeling okay. after the beating he had taken, there was surprisingly no pain anywhere. how had he not noticed that until now? 

schlatt laughs, "it's called healing spells, dream." 

his eyes narrow. no way would schlatt want to fucking heal him. 

"wasn't my idea, of course. no pain, no gain, in my opinion." schlatt says, and yeah, dream was right. "alyssa just felt bad for you." 

alyssa? that name seemed familiar. 

dream bites his lip, "why am i here?" 

schlatt tuts and shakes his head, hand grabbing the door handle, "all in good time, dream. all in good time." he says, closing the door behind him. 

he turns back to fundy, who chuckles, "how about we get something to eat? you must be hungry, clay." 

"don't call me that." dream responds, shocking fundy from the sudden aggressiveness. he apologises. 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

"steak?" punz asks dream, lifting a plate towards him. clay shakes his head. 

this dining room was way too formal to be called just a dining room. there was 6 people seated with him. alyssa on his right and punz on his left. schlatt was at the head of the table and dream had later found out that the people across from him was a kid called ranboo, and then fundy and sam. 

they were strangely like a weird family. dream had never met anyone here before but punz, and also alyssa during his 2nd year, though it was a coincidence (?) that they all happened to be slytherins. he learnt that ranboo and sam had been expelled for 'accidentally' using a harmful spell on a professor and fundy just dropped out for schlatt, which dream thought was a dumb thing to do. they were all quite nice though and they welcomed him easily, schlatt was nicer when around them which was a bonus. 

"oh!" alyssa exclaimed, bending to her side to ruffle through her bag. dream raised an eyebrow as everyone clasped their hands and smiled at him. strange. she pulled out a mask and turned to him, "i made this for you earlier! i thought it would suit you." she said, handing it to him, dream gracefully accepted it with a small thank you. he brushed his fingertips against the white material, snapping the band at the back, cool. clay turned it over, tilting his head to examine the smiley-face painted on it, would this really suit him? 

schlatt intertwined his fingers, resting his elbows on the table before placing his chin on them, "try it on, dream." he said and dream shrugged, alright, he thought. dream brushed his hair back before taking the band and stretching it over the top of his head with a snap, he smiled and adjusted the mask until it covered his face nicely. alyssa clapped excitedly, "you look so good!"

sam nodded, crossing his arms as he lent back on his chair, "agreed, but mines still cooler right?" 

fundy rolled his eyes, "sure, sam." 

dream smiled. maybe these people weren't so bad. 

but oh, there was still one thing he was still questioning that would be really appreciated if answered. he shifted in his seat, lifting the mask until it only covered the side of his hair, "so," dream began, "why am i here again?" 

ranboo blinked over to him and then to schlatt, "can we tell him?" he nods in response.

punz clears his throat, eyes all turning to him. "you're a half-blood, aren't you, dream?" he asks, and dream replies with a simple yes. alyssa's eyes widen and she makes a grab for his hand, "that's so interesting! what are they like?" she says, and dream gives her a look of confusion, she laughs, "the muggles, what are they like?" alyssa clarifies, "oh." dream says, "uh, like you guys i guess but less magic-y." 

"they sound boring." sam comments, but schlatt corrects him, "no, sam. we shouldn't be one to judge. after all, dream's muggle mother did make him and he's far from boring." 

"well, thanks." dream responds in monotone, "but uh, im guessing you're all pure-bloods?" 

they all nod or say something amongst the lines of 'born and raised' in response. 

"cool." 

punz smiles, "but to the matter at hand, you're here because we chose you to be." 

dream doesn't follow.

schlatt chuckles, "listen, dream, the world isn't a fair place and there's nothing we can do to change that." he says, "i'm just trying to do what other wizards couldn't do and take advantage of that unfairness." clay doesn't like the sound of that one bit, but he continues to listen, "say, dream." schlatt glares at him, "would you rather be powerful or weak? the answer is clear, right? but what i want to know is are you ready to make that sacrifice?"

all eyes turn to him and dream has no idea what to reply with. 

"come on, dreamy. you don't wanna be boring, do you?" alyssa asks him, "yeah, dream. this is the opportunity of a lifetime." sam adds. dream gulps. he looks over to fundy for guidance but he's getting the same expression everyone else is giving him. great. 

"um," he coughs, "what do you mean by sacrifice?" 

schlatt grins, "nothing too extreme, of course. i'm only asking if you'd be willing to give everything up to serve me." 

dream's throat feels dry. 

"are you like a second dark lord or something?" he asks and schlatt laughs, "no, dream! fuck that guy, he died to a kid." 

"but you're basically asking me to be a death eater." 

"sure, dream. if that's the term for it." 

dream bites his lip. there wasn't really much of a choice, was there? he sighs, "okay." 

schlatt looks surprised. "oh? i didn't think you had it in y--" 

"but i want to see george." 

fundy frowns. that name again. he knew it wouldn't result in anything but trouble. 

ranboo smirks, "ooo, who's george?" 

dream laughs as everyone else continues to start pestering him about the 'mysterious george,' with alyssa asking a bunch of questions but it was all good things. clay was about to answer sam's question of "is he cute?" until schlatt interrupted them all with a "quiet down." it was scary how they all immediately shut up.

he thanks them and turns back to dream, "i will let you see george, but you will come back and never see him again, okay?" 

dream clenches his fists under the table, and alyssa gently squeezes his right wrist when noticing. he gave her a soft, but pained, smile. 

"can i at least have a phone to message him with?" 

"we'll see how things go, dream." 

clay sucks in a breath. 

"okay." 

schlatt smiles, "good. fundy, escort him." 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

dream thanks fundy for taking him back to hogwarts. now all he has to do is see if george was anywhere around here. he's normally in his common room at this time but clay was surprised to see him in the slytherin dorms. wilbur must have let him in or something, but at least george was alone so it wouldn't be that strange when dream just appeared in front of everyone again. 

he's wrapped himself around dream's bedsheets, the room was dark apart from the light from his phone screen that lit up his face. george's eyebags had recently got more apparent but he still looked so fucking pretty. clay's eyes soften the moment his eyes had landed on him for the first time in a while, man, he really did love that boy. he wonders what his sudden disappearance is doing to him, and if george would be upset to see him again only for him to go away. maybe it'd be better to just never have come back in the first place. dream wasn't one for goodbyes, especially not to george. 

he bites his lip, glancing towards the rooftops across to him where fundy waited. this wasn't going to be easy. 

clay taps his finger on the window a couple times, george ignored it. he probably thought it was a branch or just normal nighttime sounds. despite that, dream perseveres. it only took one or three more gentle taps for george to finally look up from the bed and towards the windows. his eyes widen in fright at the sight of his currently m.i.a boyfriend and dream doesn't know whether to laugh or feel bad. 

dream waves. "let me in." he says through the glass and clay swears he's never seen george jump out of bed faster. he was wearing his robes. dream smiles, cute. he watches as george's hands struggle to open the lock, which was so simple to undo but his mind was probably occupied with something, or someone, else at the moment. 

dream chuckles, "your wand, george. use your wand." he says and george looks up at dream like he just had the greatest idea ever. he pats his hand on the glass a couple times, signalling for him to wait as he runs back over to clays bed and grabs his wand from the side table. his boyfriend was pretty dumb for a ravenclaw, huh? 

one small 'alohomora' later and clay was stepping into the room to be immediately pulled into george's arms, and the boy refused to let go of him until 5 minutes later. dream strokes his hair in the meantime, cooing soft apologies into his ear as george sobbed his heart out. he hasn't seen him show this much raw emotion for some time. 

they pull apart and george debates whether he should slap him against the chest lightly for leaving without saying anything but he figures there was probably a reason and holds it in. clay kisses his forehead to help him relax, which works. of course it fucking worked. it always did. 

"you must have a lot of questions." and george nods almost straight away, wiping away at the tears that were left on his face with his sleeves. 

god, how dream worshipped him and the very ground he walks on. 

"is, um, is everyone looking for me?" 

george mumbles a simple yes, and dream feels so fucking guilty that he ends up pulling george into another hug. they stay like that for a while until george rests his arms on clay's chest and pulls away slightly, "but, but its okay now, right? be- because you're back?" 

dream places a small peck on his nose, "yeah. im back." 

george brightens up, "we should go tell everyone! drista's been--" 

"but i can't stay." 

clay's heart breaks the exact moment he sees george's expression fall, and he didn't even think about his sister until he had mentioned her. fuck. dream needs to see her too. 

"what do you mean, clay?" 

"some stuff is happening right now and--" 

"why can't you stay?" george asks. 

dream frowns, "they made it hard for me to choose the right answer." 

"yet you still could have chosen it." george replies, and clay lowers his head. he was right. he could have. george brings his hand up to caress dream's cheek, "what-" he bites the inside of his cheek, "what did you choose, clay?" 

shit. dream chuckles nervously, "um, remember when i asked you if you would still love me if i was a death eater?" 

george pulled himself off of dream and stared up at him in disbelief, "what?" he asks. 

dream doesn't respond. 

"are you serious? you chose what? _power?_ over me? over your sister?" he furrows his eyebrows, "what the fuck is wrong with you? does everything mean nothing to you?" 

"george--" 

"choose me, dream. stay. stay with me and sapnap and karl and drista and fucking wilbur, i don't care anymore. i just want you here." 

dream takes george's hands in his, "im doing this for _you,_ george." 

he scoffs, "you aren't doing this for me. you're doing this for yourself. how the fuck is this gonna benefit me in any fucking way? what? are you protecting me? is that what you think you're doing, dream? if you wanna protect me so bad, then take me with you." 

"i can't do that." 

"why not?" 

"i don't want anything to happen to you." 

george laughs, "i don't understand you at all, clay. why are you even doing this?" 

dream shakes his head, "i don't know why i'm doing this either, george." 

george looks like he's about to break and dream's hit with the overwhelming urge to wrap his arms around him. so he does. clay buries his head into the crook of george's neck and wraps his arms around his waist securely, and for a moment he thinks george is going to push him off but he falls against him almost instantly. dream moves his head so george could rest his against his chest. george hates that he feels so safe right now. he hopes his tears end up staining his shirt.

a couple muffled hiccups escape his mouth before he finally speaks up again, his hair nuzzling dream's jawline as he puts his hand next to him, "clay,"

dream hums softly in response and george sniffs, "clay, please don't leave." 

"if you leave, i don't ever want you to come back." 

clay freezes for about 0.5 seconds. the hand he's using to rub circles on george's hip stops, and then starts again. he doesn't respond, he doesn't have to. dream knows he doesn't mean it but, he understands how upset george is. he just squeezes george against him tighter and that was enough of an answer for the both of them. 

george grips onto his shirt, murmuring a small, "i love you."

yeah. dream really did hate goodbyes. 

he kissed the top of his head, whispering an, "i love you too." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> drink some water or dream dies :D  
> im kidding, but drink some water today <3


	21. nothing good ever stays.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> george finds a piece of paper in his pocket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehe hello :]  
> how are you all?

**incoming message from george**

**george 9:12**

i need to talk to you

**drista 9:13**

i dont have the time. 

save it for later. 

look for your boyfriend, george. 

**george 9:21**

thats the thing, drista. 

he doesn't want to be found. 

**drista 9:23**

did he say that to you?

have you seen him? 

did he talk to you 

george answer me 

is he there 

is he with you right now 

can i see him 

let me see him. 

what the fuck do you even mean 

why is he with you 

tell him to see me

tell him i miss him 

george 

george reply 

**george 9:42**

he's gone 

he left ages ago. 

i just thought i'd tell you that he's never coming back. 

**drista 9:45**

what the fuck did you say to him 

i want my brother, george. 

this is all your fucking fault

**george 9:48**

how the fuck is this my fault 

**drista 9:49**

you drove him away. 

he was hell bent on loving you and it messed him up. 

you were all he could ever think about, george. he lived and breathed you and you don't even love him enough to make him stay? 

**george 9:57**

clay was probably just exaggerating when he told me 

**drista 9:58**

you don't know him like i do. 

you don't know him at all. you never will. 

just fuck off and leave me alone. 

he's my brother, and you took him away from me and i will never forgive you. 

**george 10:05**

it wasn't my decision, drista. it was his. 

**drista 10:06**

he wouldn't leave me like that 

i need him. 

shut the fuck up, george. 

none of this would have happened if he never fell in love with you. 

**george 10:12**

drista please you have to understand 

i need him too but it's more complicated than that 

he isn't going to come back. he can't. 

**drista 10:17**

shut up shut up shut up shut up 

you don't know what you're talking about, george

**george 10:18**

he told me 

drista please 

i never asked him to fall in love with me. 

**drista 10:19**

but he did, and you were never there for him when he needed you in return. 

why do you think he started being around wilbur again? 

**george 10:23**

what are you talking about? 

i thought they just discussed quidditch stuff 

**drista 10:24**

no, george. 

wilbur made him feel safer than you ever could. 

your arguments did something to him, clay just didn't want you to know that so he avoided you. 

you drove my brother crazy, george, and for what? 

**george 10:29**

why didn't anyone tell me 

dris? 

**you have been blocked by the recipient.**

george turns off his phone.

fuck. 

_don't cry. don't cry. don't cry. don't cry. don't cry_

george tore at his hair. he needed to keep himself together. whatever happened with him and clay didn't matter now, he was never going to see him again anyways. who cares if dream was hiding things from him? who cares if george wishes he had done more to make him stay? he can't change the past. the only thing he wants to do now is get out of these dirty clothes. he'd been wrapped up in clay's school robes for days and it was probably time to put them away for good. 

he yawns, stretching out his arms. when did clay leave last night? george couldn't remember. he said he was gonna see drista but george is guessing that was a lie. it's whatever. it might have saved george the heartache if dream did go see his sister though. she was hurting more than anyone. 

his hands dig into his pockets, rummaging around for his phone. his fingers brush against something else. george raises an eyebrow and pulls it out. a scrap piece of paper? was it clays? but he was pretty sure he had emptied all of his pockets before putting on the robes earlier. weird. 

george thought to throw it to his bedside table, but then his eyes caught sight of writing on the other side and that peeked his interest. dream wasn't even here anymore, what was the harm in reading a tiny bit of paper? he frowns. george just wants to see dream's handwriting again. 

he unscrambles it and flips it right side up. 

it was an address, accompanied with _'- for the right time. wait for me. clay :)'_ scribbled under it. 

george thinks his heart is swelling up just from the last four words. he wants to hit himself right now. was he really missing dream that much already that just the sight of a dumb note is making him act up? 

the answer was yes. 

his hands reach into his other pocket and pull out his phone. george wants to call him. he had to call him. maybe dream wouldn't call him back but it was worth a try, right? 

george is scared. god, why was he scared to call his boyfriend? well, maybe not boyfriend. he isn't sure what they are but the next thing you know, george is already hovering his thumb over the 'call' button next to dream's contact number. he sucks in a breath and clicks it. 

a few seconds pass by and it's still ringing, george had taken the time to bring the phone up to his ear. he bites his lip. surprise, surprise, he was sent to voicemail but oh my god, hearing dream's stupid voicemail message was enough to send him into a frenzy of smiles and laughs. 

_'hey! whats up, its clay. this is me missing your call- oops!'_ george basks in the familiar laugh that came after, _'you can just leave me a message after the beep! uh, beep,"_

george doesn't say anything. 

he's heard this voicemail too many times before to fall for it. 

_'haha! i got you, didn't i? sorry, sorry. here's the actual beep.'_

and there was an actual beep that time, and it nearly sends george overboard. fuck. he wished he convinced dream to stay. 

"clay? um, it's george. you're probably never going to listen to this like ever again but please come back? and not for me, but for um, for drista. i think she really needs you right now and i hate seeing what you're doing to her. at least um," george rolls back into his bed, covering himself under the sheets before continuing, "at least come and see her? or just stay. i miss you. i miss you so much it hurts." he sniffs, his hands are trembling. clay wasn't going to care. he knows it. he isn't going to call him back yet george keeps going. this is the only comfort he will ever get from now on. he's wanted dream more than ever and george wishes he knew how much clay meant to him before just letting him go so damn easily. he won't ever come back, despite what that stupid little note says. 

'wait for me.' 

how long will george be waiting for? clay's hoping forever. 

george differs. why wait for someone who can't even pick good over power? loving someone shouldn't feel like this. why was george suddenly second place? where did it all go wrong? though there has to be something else going on. dream might leave george, but he would never leave drista. not ever. 

he plucks up enough energy to go on, "but um, don't come back for me. i can, i can learn how to live with you never coming back for me but," george sighs, "drista can't. she loves you. she loves you more than anything, and she's so young. you can't just leave her behind, she's your sister. you're like a hero to her. please don't do this, clay. i don't care if you never wanna see me again but everyone else wants to see you. especially her." 

he's rambling. 

he could have ended the call 5 minutes ago and leave it there, knowing that dream won't reply. george doesn't do that. somewhere in his mind, he still thinks clay will feel pity for him and come back, and maybe he'd hold him closely and whisper sweet-nothings, and tell him that he was back for good and that george didn't have to worry anymore. he wanted dream to tell him that he was more important than anything else. it was selfish. it was selfish but he needed it. 

"just," george wipes away his tears, "come back." his voice cracks, and anyone would most definitely be able to figure out that he was crying if they ever heard the voicemail but he ends it there. he's said all he needs to say, and he's glad that he got it off his chest. glad that he got the last word in. glad that he tried, even though he could have tried earlier. 

george chucks his phone over onto another bed. oh, actually, where was everyone? he looks over to the alarm clock placed by dream's bed and his eyes widen. george forgot that they have classes, and he could probably make it in time for his next one but he doesn't feel like it. he doesn't feel like people staring and whispering about him when he walks past, doesn't feel like being sympathised because his boyfriends missing. he doesn't feel like people reminding him that clay was bound to fuck him over. george snuggles himself into his sheets more. _smells like clay._ everywhere in the slytherin dorms reminded him of clay, and the house has probably adopted him at this point. he never leaves. he tries but he can't. 

sleep is starting to catch up to him again, and he pulls the blankets over his head more before nodding off. his mind fills with the familiar scent of the beach and mint, a warm colour of green. george feels at ease. something's enveloping him, and someone keeps muttering small 'i love you's. their voice was sweet, and it felt like coming home. clay was home. george reaches his arms out and he quietly whines at the emptiness beside him, but then it's filled with the same laughter and smiles he always saw in his dreams. in his head, clay never left, so george often finds himself taking comfort in sleeping. 

he's content for a short while, until a loud knock interrupts him. george scrunches his nose. whoever is knocking will probably fuck off soon, it's most likely just karl coming in to check up on him. sapnap's been too busy indulging himself in finding his best friend that he barely has time for anyone anymore. clay should be grateful he has people like this in his life, _had_ people like this in his life. dream disappears and suddenly it's tearing everyone apart. wilbur looks like a lost soul whenever he's around. he comes in and out to sleep, and then it's off to sulking in the common rooms. he's hiding something from george. he's hiding the notes he saw. he's hiding how much george really meant to clay. hiding how much he drove him insane to the point where he had to get away. wilbur doesn't think george could handle the truth. he can't. 

the knocking continues, and it finally wakes him up. george wants to be pissed, wants to be annoyed that someone is intruding on his time alone with what he has left of dream but he's glad that people care enough to occasionally see if he's okay. he gets up, telling the person at the door to give him a minute as he begins to undress. it's about time he takes himself out of clay's robes, but they're only replaced with his sweatpants and hoodie. dream's closet was a goldmine to george. the clothes were too big for him but it just made them feel all the more comforting. 

george wipes his eyes, walking up to the door. 

he's expecting to be attacked with hugs so he braces himself. 

it doesn't come so he opens his eyes to find nobody there, but then he lowers them. 

drista? 

"what are you--?" he stops himself the moment he glances to what she's holding up in her hand. that phone. it looked-

drista plays his voicemail. george's eyes widen the second he recognises it, and they just stand there as it goes on. 

' _i miss you. i miss you so much it-_ ' 

she stops it and george thinks drista's going to yell at him for being dumb enough to try and reach out for him but instead, she collapses into him. her arms wrap tightly around his lower chest and george can hear her crying, and he finally understands. all they have is each other now. loving dream came easy to the both of them, and they both got it. george places a hand on her hair, softly stroking it. they looked similar. he'd been too focused on drista that he didn't notice himself crying until a tear fell from his eyes. shit. 

george doesn't even question why drista has dream's phone. he doesn't care. he's just happy someones finally not pitying him, and he's happy that that person is drista. 

he'll swear to take care of her from now on, until clay comes back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> drink some water!! <3


	22. change, its a wonderful thing.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the boys talk about dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello :]   
> i thought i should update hehe

**incoming message from 'sbi ;)'**

**tommy 17:12**

HELLO 

**techno 17:13**

hello, tommy. 

**phil 17:13**

hi techno, are you back from your late night fly? 

**techno 17:14**

yes. 

it was quieter than usual without dream. 

**tommy 17:15**

ughhhh

dream this, dream that 

BORINGGG 

**phil 17:17**

are you just too scared to admit that you miss him? 

**techno 17:18**

yeah, you've been more quiet than usual. 

**tommy 17:18**

why are we making everything about dream?

i never liked him, i still don't 

lol 

**phil 17:19**

come on, tommy. 

he's missing. 

**tommy 17:20**

yeah, and? 

just a couple weeks ago, he broke wilbur's heart but everyone seems to have forgotten about that. 

he isn't a good person, stop lying to yourselves. if anything, he disappeared because he wanted to. 

**phil 17:25**

stop it, tommy. don't say that. you have no idea why he's really gone, none of us do. 

so just shut up before you say the wrong thing. 

**techno 17:27**

hold on a minute, phil. 

i wanna see what this kids gonna say.

**tommy 17:28**

THANK YOU BIG MAN. 

also not a kid but i will let it slide this time 

**techno 17:29**

sure. 

anyways, continue. 

**phil 17:30**

i really don't think it would be best to. 

**tommy 17:31**

phil, i mean this in the nicest way possible, shut the fuck up.

im just expressing an opinion which is allowed right? why so serious? 

**phil 17:33**

dream just has too much here to lose if he really did go willingly. 

**tommy 17:34**

the real question is, phil, how much did he have to gain? 

think about it. schlatt's run off too, nobody is talking about that. why? i don't know but it's not really a coincidence that both of their disappearances coincide. 

**techno 17:35**

tommy's learnt grown up words. 

**tommy 17:38**

thank you for noticing that i am not completely stupid. 

but come on, i have a point right? 

**phil 17:39**

yes, sure. i still don't believe he would leave george and his own sister behind. 

i understand he's hurt wilbur, but he did hurt wilbur for george, i don't think he would cause havoc and then run off. 

**tommy 17:40**

nono, phil.

it's like i've been telling george since the moment they got together. clay's gonna fuck him over.

**techno 17:41**

hold on. 

you told him that? 

**phil has gone offline.**

**tommy 17:42**

yes, and it seems i was right.

**techno 17:43**

you had no place to say that to george, tommy. 

**tommy 17:45**

so? it's not your problem. 

**techno 17:47**

i'm his upperclassman, of course it's my problem. 

anything troubling a fellow ravenclaw is my problem, tommy. he's my friend. 

**tommy 17:49**

it doesn't matter though bc it was true. 

**techno 17:50**

and that's the exact thing george was afraid of. 

you know everyone in our house used to leave the common room empty every time george told us clay was coming over because we all knew they would burst into another fight? 

nobody wanted to be caught in the crossfire. the root of their problems sprouted from your little intervention. 

maybe dream did get scared and he did run off, but maybe he wouldn't have if you just minded your own business. 

**tommy 17:59**

what? so he can screw over wilbur but when it comes to george, it's just sooo impossible. 

**techno 18:01**

dream's feelings towards the both of them differentiate. 

wilbur knows that. 

**tommy 18:02**

if wilbur knows that then why the fuck is he wasting his time crying over a boy who doesn't care for him in the slightest? 

are you gonna tell me some shit like 'opposites attract' next, techno? 

**techno 18:04**

that's magnets. we're people. 

and wilbur can know something, it doesn't mean he's completely over it. 

get some sleep, tommy. 

**techno has gone offline.**

**wilbur 18:06**

tommy

**tommy 18:06**

do you see how blind they all are, will? 

you understand though. he's a bad person. 

you of all people should understand. 

**wilbur 18:11**

tommy.

**tommy 18:12**

yeah?

**wilbur 18:13**

we're all bad people in our own right. 

i don't think clay would hurt george like that, not without a reason. 

everything has a reason, tommy. 

**tommy 18:16**

whats yours then? 

why do you sulk and yearn over him when he doesn't do the same for you? 

**wilbur 18:17**

when you meet someone that special, i don't think you'd want to let them go either.

or at at least, not easily. 

**tommy 18:19**

you're all walking cliches. 

look at the real world. there are greater things than love stories. 

**wilbur 18:21**

if i asked you to choose tubbo over ruling a whole nation, what would you do? 

**tommy 18:23**

thats different. 

**wilbur 18:23**

different how, tommy? 

you would choose tubbo, right? because he's your best friend. well, dream would choose george, or drista, or sapnap, or maybe in some cases, you. 

clay isn't stupid. if he chose to stay away, there's a valid reason why. 

**tommy 18:27**

why are you defending him? 

**wilbur 18:27**

im not defending him. i just know him. 

calm yourself, tommy. go to sleep. worry about tests, not missing people. 

you're too young for that. 

**wilbur has gone offline.**

**tommy 18:29**

you're all just idiots

**tommy has gone offline.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember to drink some water <3


	23. never look back at the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> george gets a message.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, everyone! how have you all been? i've been thinking up ideas for how to end this because i've just kinda started writing whatever i felt like writing and i didn't really plan for it to have like 23+ fucking chapters like wtf. so yeah. this isnt the last chapter but its one of the lasts. 
> 
> anyways help this chapter was a fucking mess :D

**incoming message from unknown**

**unknown 22:15**

hey, georgie. 

**george 22:16**

goodbye, unknown number. 

not making that mistake twice

peace out homeslice

**unknown 22:18**

oh my god 

george its me 

**george 22:19**

saying 'its me' doesn't really give me much of a clue, you know? 

**unknown 22:20**

hello its ur missing boyfriend who loves u so much that he stole someones phone and is now hiding in a broom closet just to message you 

**george 22:21**

clay? 

**unknown 22:21**

no, its skeppy. 

who the fuck else would it be george 

**george 22:23**

wtf take a chill pill geez 

sorry that i wasnt expecting a message from an unknown number any time soon, god clay. 

**unknown 22:24**

no, im sorry. i've just been really stressed lately and i feel like i'm losing my mind. 

**george 22:25**

you aren't the only one feeling that way, clay. 

**unknown 22:26**

right. sorry. 

is drista okay? 

**george 22:27**

i dont know. her brother left her for fuck all, you tell me. 

**unknown 22:28**

im really not in the mood for this, george 

**george 22:29**

do you think im in the mood for you just randomly showing up out of nowhere, pretending that everything is just fine and dandy?? 

you are tearing everything apart in your absence, clay. you can't just talk to me and give me false hope. 

**unknown 22:34**

can't i just fucking talk to you without you blaming me for every single fucked up thing going on in your life right now? 

**george 22:34**

no, clay.

and you wanna know why? it's because you are the sole reason for all those fucked up things. 

i thought i would just be getting through this fucking school with my sweet and handsome boyfriend but instead, he decides to join a little fun club called the death eater gang and they bake cookies and muffins made out of peoples misery!! 

everyone said you were gonna fuck me over, clay. 

im starting to think that i should have believed them. it would have saved me some pain. 

**unknown 22:53**

this isn't me fucking you over, george. 

**george 22:53**

really? well it sure feels like it. 

**unknown 22:54**

george, he would have killed me. 

**george 22:55**

what? he would have killed you because you didnt wanna join mickey mouses little club house? :( 

boohoo. 

**unknown 22:56**

no, george. 

he would have killed me because he fucking beat me to a pulp and had punz carry my unconscious body all the way from hogwarts to his secret mansion in the middle of fucking nowhere just to intimidate me into joining his 'little fun club' and im pretty sure he would have gone to harsher methods if i had said no. 

if you think schlatt would have just let me go if i denied his offer, you are fucking stupid. 

what? he's gonna let me run off freely to tell the authorities about what he's planning? honestly, george. 

**george 23:12**

so you didn't get my messages? 

**unknown 23:12**

what fucking messages? 

i tell you all that and the only thing you're wondering about are messages? 

**george 23:14**

i sent you a bunch of texts after our fight that night and i thought you just ignored them 

sorry. 

**unknown 23:15**

wait hey no

don't say sorry for that. im so sorry if i scared you like that baby, i really am. i would never ignore your messages. not on purpose. 

you just have to understand the situation im in right now. if i really could have just said no and come back to you, i would have. 

**george 23:16**

are you sure? 

**unknown 23:17**

yes, george. 

**george 23:19**

drista has your phone. you probably know that already but now that i remember

um 

i saw your notes and i don't actually know who they're towards but are you okay, clay? like really okay. 

**unknown 23:21**

what notes

**george 23:22**

you know what notes, clay. 

can you just be honest with me please? 

when did you write it? 

**unknown 23:24**

why are you fucking interrogating me 

**george 23:24**

im not 

im just asking you questions that i would really like the answers to 

i dont think you're in a good mindset right now, dream. 

**unknown 23:26**

are you a therapist now? 

jesus george, if you really want to know, it was just after one of our little arguments and i was more thrown off than usual. 

im not fucking mental. 

**george 23:28**

right

it just looked like something that a healthy minded person wouldn't do, since it was a bit concerning. 

thats all. 

but why, clay? 

**unknown 23:31**

i needed to convince myself or something idfk 

i just really love you, i guess, and i didn't know how else to convey that anymore so i lost it for a while 

**george 23:34**

why didn't you talk to me, clay? 

**unknown 23:35**

i tried. 

every time i told you, it was like you began to believe it less and less. 

and then you told me that you didn't think i could love anything properly and that was my breaking point. 

because i really fucking love you, george. 

out of everything, i always loved you the best. 

it hurt that you couldn't see that i was driving myself crazy just to keep you happy and in the end, i just don't think i could have taken anymore. 

and i know you have all the reason to feel upset because of me leaving you and everyone else but 

you broke _me_ first, george. 

i know that wasn't what you wanted to hear. 

**george 23:48**

im so sorry, clay. 

i didn't know and im so sorry. 

im so fucking sorry. 

i let my stupid jealousy get in the way and it ruined everything and i am so sorry. 

**unknown 23:52**

forget about it, george. let's just start over. 

i'm gonna come back. 

that address i left you, use it if you think somethings gone wrong. 

i have a plan. there's a reason for all of this, okay? and after, we can be happy. 

let's be happy, george. 

**george 23:57**

clay, promise me you won't do anything bad. 

you won't get hurt, right? 

clay. 

dream.

come on, this isn't funny. just reply to me. 

tell me if you'll be okay at least.

you fucking idiot. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know i normally just give you guys a 'drink water' reminder at the end notes but i just really wanted to thank you for all the kudos and appreciation this has gotten, like genuinely. reading your comments makes my day and omfg ily all <3 and remember to drink water today :] mwah mwah. 
> 
> and i wasn't really planning on giving you guys my social media but if you ever wanna talk or need more drink water reminders, i mean, if you wanna put up with me some more my twitter is @iwaqkzm


	24. nobody breaks my heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> karl attempts to comfort his boyfriend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the calm before the storm

**incoming message from karl >:) **

**karl >:) 12:14**

peekaboo

:( 

sapnap 

sapnappppp

**sapnap 12:34**

sorry, hey 

**karl >:) 12:34**

hehe hi!! <3 

**sapnap 12:35**

hi pretty boy 

**karl >:) 12:36 **

how have you been? 

wanna come and have lunch with me? :) 

**sapnap 12:38**

i would love that but ive been really into something at the moment 

**karl >:) 12:39 **

wouldn't you rather come and be into me? :( 

**sapnap 12:40**

that sounds so tempting, karl 

**karl >:) 12:40 **

hehe ikr 

are you still trying to find out a way to see where dream is? 

**sapnap 12:42**

no, im doing my defence against the dark arts essay. 

did you know that tarantallegra is a spell that forces someone to dance lol 

**karl >:) 12:43**

i did actually 

can i bring lunch to you?? 

**sapnap 12:45**

yes 

god yes

forget lunch just bring yourself 

**karl >:) 12:46 **

missed me? <3 

but i will bring a couple sandwiches, when was the last time you even ate? 

**sapnap 12:48**

idk maybe last sunday 

**karl >:) 12:49 **

what 

nick are you serious 

**sapnap 12:51**

yeah lol 

why 

**karl >:) 12:52 **

its tuesday. 

oh my god i cant believe i let you miss meals for this long, im so sorry 

i should have forced you to come down to the great hall with me 

**sapnap 12:56**

babe its fine 

you aren't in charge of my food intake 

**karl >:) 12:57 **

i am when you aren't. 

do you think i can sneak up a chicken to the gryffindor common room 

**sapnap 12:59**

are you planning to bring up the whole great hall tf 

**karl >:) 13:00 **

for you? anything. 

but no, im gonna bring up more than just sandwiches though

wait for me a little longer 

**sapnap 13:05**

okay baby 

i'll be seeing you 

**karl >:) 13:06 **

ohohoh 

wait 

come back 

nick come back 

**sapnap 13:12**

sorry, yeah? 

**karl >:) 13:12 **

i love you :)

**sapnap 13:13**

you're cute. 

i love you too 

now hurry, i wanna kiss you pretty boy ;) 

**karl >:) 13:15 **

hehe ok!! 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

karl tried his absolute hardest to juggle the plates of food in his hands, and a couple balancing on his arms, for sapnap. he had been busy attending his classes and catching up from all the loss time he spent consoling george that he hadn't seen nick for a good week so his boyfriend instincts immediately kicked in the moment sapanp had mentioned not eating for a couple of days, and that worried karl a lot. he didn't tend to show it because he didn't want sapnap to just tell him that it was fine and that he'd eat something later and karl knows he's been really focused on trying to contact clay again but he didn't want anything to take a toll on his boyfriends health. 

it did take a while navigating on the staircases to get to the gryffindor common room though. karl didn't think it would be that much of a challenge to walk with a bunch of food in your arms but it was and he didn't even think of using his wand until the very second he was in front of the painting leading inside. he wanted to bang his head into a wall. 

karl sighed, mumbling out the password and not getting surprised when his access was denied. he looked up at the painting, it was always the same lady, "tommy changed it again, didn't he?" he asked and the painting nodded, but then she smiled, "karl! i haven't seen you in a while." he giggled, "yeah, i've actually been going--" 

but the painting swung open before he could finish, and low and behold his beautiful boyfriend opening the entrance for him. sapnap had known it was karl outside just from his cute laughs. 

"are you really talking to our painting again, karl?" nick said and karl smiled, "she's nice, you know?" 

sapnap rolled his eyes, "you are the only person i know that is sweet to literally everything," he tugs on karl's sleeve, careful not to spill any of the food, and pulls him into a quick kiss. karl's eyes widen in surprise but soften the moment he recognises the familiar feeling of his boyfriends lips on his, and he practically melts. nick smiles, resting a hand on karl's waist to move him in closer, karl makes a muffled noise of panic in response as he feels all of the plates fall from his arms but sapnap quickly pulls out his wand and uses a levitation spell to keep them from smashing. karl is so grateful for nick. his hands snake around his neck to continue where they last left off. 

"god, you are so pretty, karl jacobs." sapnap murmured.

karl pulls away to look at him, "you think im pretty?" he replied softly, nick smiled and nodded. 

the older boy giggled and took the others hand, dragging him to one of the couches. nick gently placed the plates down on the table in front of them and tucked his wand back into his robes pocket, and then karl grabbed the bowl of chicken soup and raised a spoon up to sapnap's mouth. his eyes glanced down before raising an eyebrow, "i'm not a baby, karl." he said, "stop complaining." karl replied. nick sighed and gave in, who was he to deny being fed by someone as beautiful as karl fucking jacobs? 

"oh, actually, can you help me with alchemy?" 

sapnap frowned, "i thought you were doing good in alchemy, babe. what happened?" 

karl scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously, "haha, well um, i was but i skipped some lessons and now im really behind," and now it was nick's turn to take care of his boyfriend, he took the bowl from karl's hands and set it down onto the table again. "it's really nice what you're doing for george and all but it's not your job to look after him." 

"but dream--" 

"dream's gone, karl." sapnap stated, "it was his job, and now it's mine but im not doing any good at it." 

karl placed his hand on nick's, "take a break." he said softly. sapnap opened his mouth to reply but karl shook his head, "just stop distracting yourself with finding clay and finishing homework and just relax." he suggested, "you can't expect yourself to be able to take care of george if you're hurting too. he was your best friend, nick. i can't imagine how you--" 

nick stopped him, "i'm not looking for sympathy, karl. especially from you." 

"take a break," karl repeated, "please, sap." he mumbled. 

"i--" 

his phone pinged. 

sapnap's attention immediately changed over to the notification that popped up on the screen as soon as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. an unknown number? karl frowned, pulling his hand off nick's and getting up to go and hang out with tommy instead. he was probably in the gryffindor's dormitory and karl would rather spend some time with someone who didn't stop everything for a fucking device. 

nick's eyes flicked away from his screen, "babe, wait--" 

"no, its fine sapnap. _i_ don't wanna be rude or anything, go and reply to whoever texted you." karl replied before continuing to walk off, and sapnap wanted to get up and stop him and tell him that it was sorry but another notification popped up. it caught him a bit off guard. 

**incoming message from unknown**

**unknown 13:45**

sapnap 

it's dream. 

sapnap glanced around him, eyes blown wide. holy shit. 

what a coincidence, huh? 

**sapnap 13:48**

what the fuck 

**unknown 13:48**

this a friends phone, drista has mine. 

**sapnap 13:49**

it's actually in my possession now 

but fuck that, it doesn't matter 

what the fuck? 

**unknown 13:51**

how have you been? 

**sapnap 13:51**

fine. karl and i started dating and it feels like ive won the fucking lottery but i suck at being a good boyfriend but you can't really help with that, can you? 

what the fuck is even wrong with you? leaving george on his own with no warning. 

**unknown 13:53**

it's complicated. 

schlatt might let me come back soon 

**sapnap 13:54**

my god, clay. 

you disappear with schlatt? are you his henchman now? 

**unknown 13:54**

im sorry 

**sapnap 13:55**

you're better than this, dream. 

it must be nice, huh? 

having schlatt on your side. 

**unknown 13:57**

im gonna handle things

meet me at the astronomy tower the day after tomorrow at 6pm, and if im not there then dont wait up

**sapnap 13:59**

what 

**unknown 13:59**

its a lot to explain. 

take care of george. 

**sapnap 14:01**

you should have told me about all of this 

don't do anything stupid, and don't you dare die. 

you have been selfish for long enough, clay. your sister is tearing herself apart and george doesn't even look like george anymore. i fucking miss you, man. i will never forgive you if you don't come back. i won't mourn you for shit. 

**unknown 14:06**

okay. 

i understand that. 

**sapnap 14:07**

oh wow, really? 

how nice of you, dream. 

**unknown 14:08**

i'll be seeing you. 

later, sapnap. 

**sapnap 14:08**

yeah, sure. 

sapnap turned his phone off and chucked it off to the other side of the couch, fingers trailing through his hair. shit shit shit. 

what the fuck is dream gonna do? and what the fuck is nick supposed to tell everyone when he doesn't show up in 2 days? fuck. oh god. george will never forgive him if he doesn't do something to stop clay and everything ends up going horrible. what the hell is he going to tell drista when her brother's face suddenly disappears off the planet? how is george gonna react? 

dream, please, god please, don't fucking die. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehe second to last chapter  
> remember to drink some water!! even if it's just a single cup full, that's fine. you're doing great :]


	25. nepenthe.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dream risks losing everything for the last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw// character death and graphic depictions of violence.
> 
> nepenthe, something that can make you forget grief or suffering.

everything’s a blur.

hands. his hands, he’s looking down at his hands, blinking furiously.

his vision is clouded with red.

there’s red on the wall, red on his face, red pooling onto the floor. red. red. red.

images flash in his head. he’s remembering small cut scenes, the bat in his hand, the words he spoke.

dream’s panting.

his heart is racing. his head is hammering.

_“you don’t have the guts. you’ll never have the guts. you’re useless, i should have fucking murdered-“_

**flashback**

“-george.” clay’s clutching his phone to his ear, back pressed up against the side of his bed as he sits on the floor.

it was a moment of weakness. _his_ moment of weakness. 

dream woke up in a cold sweat and the first thing he found himself doing was dialling the familiar number, yearning for the familiarity of the boys voice. 

his breathing was heavy and uneven, a smile threatening to appear as the corners of his mouth twitched at a reply. 

"dream?" 

beads of sweat roll down his forehead, strands of hair attached. clay clenches his jaw. his voice is quiet, a mere whisper, "can you tell me everything's going to be okay?" 

george's breath hitches. it had been a good while since he had heard dream sound so broken, so unlike himself that if the contact name weren't there, george would probably forget who he was talking to. 

he bites his lip, "why are you calling me, dream?" 

clay shifts his legs, no longer comfortable with the nickname he had been called so much of during his time here. dream felt like a different person, a different mindset. dream was the person who wore the mask and did the deeds that clay would have never have imagined himself doing. dream stripped him of his humanity, leaving him as a slave to survival, a stranger to emotion, of empathy, of mercy. 

the name rolling off of george's tongue feels foreign. it erases late night whispers, sneaky kisses in the halls, cheeky smiles and subtle waves from across the classroom, the time it took for them to even reach a real name basis. 

his throat is dry, "i needed to hear you, want you to talk to me. want to talk to you." there are so many things clay wants to say yet he couldn't bring himself to, an 'i love you' didn't feel right, an 'i miss you' would just call for a snarky comment on how he shouldn't have left in the first place because then he'd have nothing to miss. he'd just have george. 

"i think im going to hang up, dream." 

dream. 

clay's free hand falls from his lap to his side, balling into a fist, nails digging into skin, small crescent-shaped marks burning into the palm. 

he gulps, "why?" 

he wants george to stay, just as much as how he wanted to stay. 

george sighs, "you always do this, dream." his tone is harsh, "you visit me, you message me, and now you're calling me. you said you were never coming back, dream, you said you couldn't so why, my god why, are you giving me so much false hope?" george asked, voice on the edge of breaking,

dream, dream, dream.

he couldn't take it anymore. 

"i am so tired of missing you, dr--"

he snaps. "call me dream one more time." 

george freezes. 

clay didn't mean for it to sound so threatening. 

the two sit in an uncomfortable silence for about 15 seconds until, "i don't think i feel like calling you clay, dream." george is pushing it now, he wants clay to suffer, suffer how he's suffering, "i don't think i have that privilege anymore." 

dream's getting irritated. 

"why do you choose to be so horrible?" 

george scoffs, "why do you choose to leave your fucking family behind--"

"i didn't want to, george. how many times do i have to tell you?" clay frowns, brushing his hair back to keep it out of his eyes. 

he didn't want another argument to sprout from this. george deserved better than that, better than having to deal with stupid fights every time they talked.

george's voice is quieter the next time he speaks, "how many times will it take for you to understand that what you did hurts?"

clay doesn't reply. a second passes by, two, three, four. 

"i love you, dream, i-" george bites the inside of his cheek, " _clay._ i love you, clay. god, i love you so much and all i really want is for you to be here," he continues breathlessly, "i just can't sit here knowing that you are so far away from me, and then sapnap's suddenly--" 

clay's eyes widen suddenly and he quickly shuffles, "i- um, no, okay uh, forget about whatever sapnap said to you. im gonna come back. okay?" he gulps, "george, okay?" 

george bites back a smile, "yeah, okay." he mumbles. 

"look, i- just, right. look, i would never hurt-

**flashback end**

-you are _nothing_ without people behind you." dream comments, inching ever so closer to schlatt's face, smiling. 

never in a million years did he ever see himself in this position. 

sweats rolling down schlatt's forehead and dream is revelling in the expression he holds in that very moment, because for the first time in his life, schlatt was cowering. he had slid down against a wall with nowhere to run and dream loved, fucking _loved,_ having power over him. being feared by him. 

he laughs, licking his lips, "your little uh, 'friends'," dream airs quotation marks, "they aren't so loyal to you, huh?" 

schlatt makes a grab for his neck. 

"you think you're so tough and mighty now, don't you?" he snarls, and dream just shrugs, a taunting smirk painted across his face. 

that was enough to send schlatt over the edge, tired of being cornered by this fucking amateur. he was the one who made something of dream. he was the one who gave him all this courage and strength. he erased his vulnerability and replaced it with something beautiful. something powerful. 

this is how dream thinks of thanking him? 

schlatt kicks at his stomach, sending dream toppling over onto the floor. it's enough time for him to get himself up again. though it's short-lived because dream's already making a grab for his ankles and pulling him down with him.

the two clash into each other and all hell breaks loose. 

they're twisting and turning, punching and biting. dream's pulling at schlatt's hair and schlatt's pulling back. 

it's _childish. humiliating,_ almost. 

the boys are squabbling and fighting with each other like angered siblings, anyone would think of this to be amusing if they had walked in on the sight. they weren't grown men bickering and having a bar fight, they were holding onto their dear lives, trying to be the one person who makes it out of here. 

dream tastes metal in his mouth, schlatt's head is pounding. 

it's animalistic. 

and in the animal kingdom, there was always just one victor. 

dream's managed to hold schlatt down long enough to straddle him, encaging his body to prevent any more unwanted kicking. they're both out of breath, both losing stamina but the two push on. 

dream reaches his arm out to grab something. 

schlatt punches at his gut, causing the boy to double over and roll off him. 

he gets up and brushes himself off. 

a second goes by and schlatt believes he's won. he thinks dream's passed out. _he thinks._

but dream's standing behind him, bat in hand. 

schlatt can already sense his presence. he freezes. his head whips around but it's all a little too late because he wasn't met with dream. he wasn't met with the man in the mask that he'd been fighting with. he was met with a swing, and a hit, and suddenly the air was knocked out of him. all senses fail him. his vision turns dark and the next time he opens his eyes, he's falling, hard and fast until his body hits the cold wood floor, and he couldn't move. his stomach hurt like a bitch. saliva was mixing with blood and then schlatt finds himself spluttering it out. 

dream roughly places his foot against his chest and schlatt's brought back to where they are, to what they had been doing. 

his voice is like a siren going off in his head the next time dream speaks, it's ricocheting off the walls in his mind, like an echo. faint. loud. painful. 

"this is funny, isn't it?" dream asks, and schlatt could only groan in response. 

the lack of a reply had dream continue, "don't you remember? something about uh, not using magic to win battles. i think i get it now." he bends down, face nearing schlatt's as he smiles, "i quite like watching you suffer too. the kind of person someone is really shows when they're about to die." dream says. 

schlatt manages to let out a laugh. 

"you think," he sucks in a breath, "you think you can take everything from me and then walk away scot-free?" schlatt replies. 

dream sighs, a frown appearing on his lips before curving into another bright smile. "yeah." 

he swings again. 

**earlier today**

_dreams biting his nails again._

he never used to do that, not back at hogwarts anyways, but it's become a habit now. he isn't sure if its because he's anxious almost all the time or just because he doesn't know any other coping methods so he just results in sitting on the same chair in the same dining room doing the same thing every afternoon. 

he spent his mornings either wandering around the mansion or finishing up a few tasks that schlatt couldn't be bothered to do, and usually none of them were too extreme, dream wasn't expecting anything extreme at all. not until yesterday. 

it was around lunch and schlatt had approached him, throwing the mask that alyssa had made for him earlier in front of him and dream thought it was just gonna be another 'fetch me some things from knockturn alley' job but instead, he was told to meet up with punz in the basement. dream didn't question it at the time, he just went along with things. that's what everyone else did and being there with schlatt wasn't all too bad, seeing how he got dream a new wand and all. 

punz and him had gone from the basement to somewhere in london, to a house isolated away from the the others, it was a bit strange. maybe they were going to see someone for schlatt, and well yeah, they did, but not for the reason dream was thinking of. punz had told him to put on his mask, and a few seconds later came the shattering of windows as they began to storm in... 

dream ended up taking a life that day. 

he isn't sure what to feel anymore. he originally just agreed to this because of one reason and that was because dream wanted to protect everyone close to him but now that he did see firsthand how terrifying it is to watch someone die in front of you, he doesn't think he can keep doing this. the lives him and punz took were gone in seconds, with just a mutter of words and it was finished. that was what troubled dream. what if that was george? what if that person _was_ someone else's george? and dream just snatched them away so easily. 

dream doesn't think he could do something like that again, but it's not really because of having morals and all that. it's more like how dream felt doing it, watching them beg for their life, hearing that last death rattle as they went out. dream found it all so..boring. he was hesitant at first but after it just felt like he wanted to do it again, and it's not like he enjoyed it or anything but he just wanted a more satisfying end - to kill for a purpose, to make it worthwhile, not just for the fun of it, you know? 

that's what he was really scared of. dream didn't want to hurt anyone but he knew he was capable of doing so now. the more he's ordered to take more lives, the more he'll lose himself, the more he'll lose a sense of righteousness, the more george will stray further from him. 

schlatt has a hold on him, and clay didn't know how to escape that until today. 

a lot of planning had gone into this, a lot of thought and late-night strategising with sam, who had gratefully enough agreed to help him out. everyone had agreed to play a small part in it. dream knew then that he wasn't the only one missing his family. punz had offered him sparring lessons, alyssa kept tabs on schlatt, ranboo provided him with information on weak spots. 

maybe dream will end up missing these people when they part. _if_ they part. 

he shuffles in his seat, sliding his mask off the table and slipping it on his face. sapnap was going to wait for him but the question is whether he's waiting for his return or a confirmation of him never coming back. dream hopes it won't be the latter. 

fundy walks in around the same time dream gets out of his seat, a bowl of fruit in hand. dream smiles. ah, right. fundy also had a hand in helping clay out, mainly just keeping him enough company so he didn't lose his mind. 

"oh, that was terrible timing." fundy pouted, placing the food onto the table and sitting down, "i thought you'd get hungry but more for me, i guess." 

dream chuckles, he's taken quite a liking to fundy. they seemed to understand each other and get along more than dream did with the others so at least there was that. he thinks fundy had taken a liking to him too, but maybe in a different way. 

clay makes his way over to the other end of the table, placing a hand on the back of the chair fundy was sitting in to lean over him and grab a grape or two. fundy looked up at him and blushed before turning away again. 

"thanks, funds," he softly ruffles his hair, "but have you seen schlatt?" dream asked, fundy quickly shook his head in response. dream frowned, "alright." 

fundy bit his lip, grabbing onto dream's wrist before he could walk away from arms reach, "i-" his ears spike up the moment dream turns back to look at him, he gulped, "i think he might be in his um, his room." 

dream smiles, "thank you." 

the gaze the two are holding on each other doesn't falter, and for a moment, dream sees a small resemblance of george in fundy's eyes. he uses his free hand to rub at the back of his neck, eyes flicking over to the grip fundy still has on his wrist before laughing nervously. fundy shies away after that. 

"um," his eyes fall to dream's chest, "the mask looks cool on you." 

clay's shoulders tense, hand coming up to grip on the accessory. he never liked the mask, sure it was super 'badass' (punz's words), but the meaning behind it sucked. it was like he became a different person every time it went on. dream had hid behind a mask for almost half his life, wanting to live up to his fathers example, not wanting to disappoint his family with the fact that he could never bring home a nice girl or give his parents grandchildren. wilbur was the one to make him realise he was more than just 'dream.' 

fundy could see that the comment made the boy uncomfortable and decided to change the topic, "so, it's happening tonight?" 

dream tilts his head before finally realising, "oh! uh," he clears his throat, "yeah. a friends gonna meet me after. this could be the last time we see each other." 

"i see." fundy replies, glancing down at his lap before looking back up at clay. he smiles softly. 

dream smiles back, although he couldn't see it through the mask either way. 

"good luck." 

"yeah," the boy chuckles, "i'll be needing it." and then dream's gone again. 

fundy turns back towards the table, hands grabbing at his hair. fuck. he wished he could have said more. 

schlatt inhales harshly through his teeth. he's struggling to breathe at this point, so accustomed to the pain that everything just feels numb. he couldn't move. his body had been bashed and bruised and the only thing left working was his head, and vocal chords, but barely. 

his voice is raspy and small, "you've," schlatt gulps, "you've had your fun, so," dream uses the end of his bat to tilt schlatt's head up, wishing he had smashed his throat in earlier because my god, after all that the bastard is still talking. 

"so, let's just call it even." he says, "no hard feelings." 

schlatt was finally giving up, huh? dream stepped back and took a moment to think, painting a quizzical expression on his face to make it seem like he'd really be giving schlatt's suggestion some thought. 

and after a couple of seconds, he grins widely, hand tightening on his weapon. 

"yeah. no hard feelings, schlatt." dream responds, bringing the bat onto one of his legs next, whacking it down with a bone-cracking crunch. 

schlatt yells out, hands trying to grip onto his thigh to try and suppress the pain, but then he does something unexpected.

schlatt lets out a laugh. a wholehearted laugh. 

dream raises an eyebrow. 

"god, look at yourself." schlatt smiles, "you've fucking lost it, clay. even if you kill me, you wouldn't win. it wouldn't change the fact that _i_ already won." he tells him, "how does it feel, dreamie? being driven by corruption, that is." 

"shut up." dream grits his teeth. 

schlatt makes a noise between a chuckle and cough, blood spluttering out of his mouth, before continuing, "you aren't gonna kill me, clay~" he taunts, "you don't have the guts. you'll never have the guts. you're useless." schlatt comments, smiling, "but do you know what i really regret?" 

dream doesn't answer. 

"i should have fucking murdered george right in front of--" 

the rest of his control and sanity flies out the window. 

the bat felt like heaven in his hands. 

schlatt's face got it next. 

and then again. 

and again. 

again. 

tears sprung from dream's eyes. 

blood splattered on the wall repeatedly. 

he didn't stop until..

until nothing. 

seconds pass. the bat drops. 

dream steps back. 

his eyes flick over to every object in the room. his heart begins to race. 

he takes another step back. and then another. he's turning around. 

clay runs out. 

**━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━**

**incoming message from unknown**

**unknown 23:38**

im coming home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> last chapter, huh?  
> it's been fun but this isn't goodbye. i dont think. i really enjoyed writing this and i really enjoy writing on ao3 in general so i might as well do some more works ahaha,, 
> 
> thank you all so much for the kudos and hits and comments, they really helped me cheer up and feel nicer when i was having shit days and writing some of the characters kinda made me realise that i was in love with one of my friends so hey, i really had something to gain in writing this. i loved writing all of this. i sincerely, genuinely did. 
> 
> i had been debating on what the last chapter was going to be and the work wasn't actually supposed to be this long. i was actually originally planning to end it when karl and sapnap got together but i got really into the angst and decided to continue on from there. the first draft of this chapter wasn't as violent and it was actually kinda wholesome but i thought it wouldn't be fitting enough to end with so here we are with schlatt dead. i cant write death scenes but i did try. 
> 
> if i remember right, i put my twitter in one of these chapters so if you ever miss me or wanna say hi, dm me :] 
> 
> this is your last reminder to drink some water so if you've been ignoring the other ones, this is your last chance. im not asking you to. this is a threat now. water. drink it. 
> 
> but im serious, i love you guys. drink some water today, okay? 
> 
> hehe have a nice day :] 
> 
> p.s i was this close to killing off dream after that fucking 'face reveal' i hate that motherfucker. /j
> 
> also im so sorry this took so long to be published, i couldnt decide on a good ending and i still think this one fucking sucks ass but its the best out of the ones i wrote. i think.


End file.
